The Garden Gang

The Garden Gang was a series of books for children written by Jayne Fisher. They were published by Ladybird Books during the late 1970s and early 1980s as Series 413 and later re-issued as Series 793.^[1] Fourteen story books were written, each containing two short stories about a group of characters who were fruit and vegetables living an almost human life. In addition to the fourteen story books, there were also three other books - an annual and two colouring books. Fisher's books were not dissimilar to the popular Munch Bunch series, also devised by a young girl, the fourteen-year-old Angela Mitson.

At the age of 9 years, Jayne was the youngest author to ever write for Ladybird Books.^[2][3] Her writing and illustrating has been an inspiration to others.^[4][5]

Books

There are fourteen story books:

• Penelope Strawberry and Roger Radish (1979)
• Percival Pea and Polly Pomegranate (1979)
• Oliver Onion and Tim Tomato (1979)
• Wee Willie Watermelon and Betty Beetroot (1979)
• Lucy Leek and Bertie Brussels Sprout (1979)
• Gertrude Gooseberry and Belinda Blackcurrant (1979)
• Colin Cucumber and Patrick Pear (1980)
• Peter Potato and Alice Apple (1980)
• Pam Parsnip and Lawrence Lemon (1980)
• Grace Grape and Robert Raspberry (1980)
• Sheila Shallot and Benny Broadbean (1980)
• Avril Apricot and Simon Swede (1980)
• Pedro Pepper and The Cherry Twins (1983)
• Oscar Orange and Augustus Aubergine (1983)

A larger and relatively hard-to-find story book (or annual):

• Meet The Garden Gang (1981)^[6]

Two colouring books:

• The Garden Gang Have Fun (1979)
• The Garden Gang At Home (1979)

See also

• Munch Bunch

External links

• Jayne Fisher biography
• The 400s Series of Ladybird Books

References

1. "The Garden Gang". Easy on the eye. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
2. Collins, Maria C (2009-12-27). "Why age is not a barrier to writing". helium.com.
3. http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/ladybird_authors.php?id=965 Jayne Fisher biography and books at The Wee Web
4. Koomson, Dorothy (2011-05-08). "Why I Write". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
5. Lord, Damon (2009-01-17). "How Jayne "Garden Gang" Fisher was my inspiration to write". damonlord.net. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
6. "Meet the garden gang / by Jayne Fisher ; additional material, based on Jayne Fisher's characters, created by Lynne Bradbury and Graham Marlow". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 2012-06-29.