'Horrible Histories: The 20th Century'.
Philip Reeve is a British children's book writer and illustrator, mostly active for Scholastic. He is the author of various novels for children and young adults, most notably the 'Mortal Engines' and 'Buster Bayliss' series. He also illustrated numerous books by other writers. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Reeve contributed to Terry Deary's humorous children's book series 'Horrible Histories', about gruesome historical eras, and to Kjartan Poskitt's 'Murderous Maths', which gives math the same treatment. Reeve also provided artwork to another 'Horrible Histories' spin-off, namely the 'Dead Famous' series.
Early life and career
Philip Reeve was born in 1966 in Brighton, East Sussex. He studied at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology (nowadays Anglia Ruskin University), where he drew a comic strip in the university magazine Student Union. He followed it up with a course at Brighton Polytechnic (nowadays the University of Brighton). After graduation, he worked in a bookstore in Brighton. In his spare time, Reeve also wrote comedy sketches for various humorous ensembles. Reeve later moved to Dartmoor.
Illustration career
In the mid-1990s, Reeve became a productive illustrator for Scholastic. He illustrated Chris D'Lacey's book 'Henry Spaloosh!' (1998), about a boy who is a hopeless swimmer, and Kjartan Poskitt's 'Pantsacadabra!' (2007), in which young readers can learn over 40 magic tricks they can perform with... pants (!). He and Poskitt also released 'Urgum the Axeman' (2007), about a barbarian who is surprised by the birth of a daughter, and the spin-off 'Borgon the Axeboy' (2014). But Reeve's most notable graphic contributions were made for the 'Horrible Histories' series and various spin-offs thereof.
Horrible Histories
Since 1993, Terry Deary had written several non-fiction children's books with a strong focus on gruesome facts from history: 'Horrible Histories', published by Scholastic. The books were best-sellers, thanks to Deary's witty, sarcastic narration and the inclusion of cartoons and comics. Reeve originally only contributed to a few specials. In 'The 20th Century' (1996), he and Deary chronicle all nine decades of the 20th century. 'Wicked Words' (1996) delves into the etymology of certain words. Although Deary had already covered the Middle Ages in 'The Measly Middle Ages' (illustrated by Martin Brown, 1996), he wrote another special about this era, with specific focus on chivalry and castles, 'Dark Knights and Dingy Castles' (1997), illustrated by Reeve. In 'Rowdy Revolutions' (1999), Deary and Reeve cover in salacious detail the horrific events of the English Civil War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Chinese Revolution and the Russian Revolution, among others. Reeve only livened up one title in the regular 'Horrible Histories' series, namely 'The Incredible Incas' (2000). Other artists who've illustrated the 'Horrible Histories' series have been Martin Brown, Kate Sheppard and Mike Philips.
''Horrible Histories': 'The Incredible Incas'.
Horrible Histories spin-offs: 'Murderous Maths'
Since 'Horrible Histories' were popular in merchandising and translation, Scholastic started producing more educational children's books discussing topics their target audience usually would perceive as "boring", but presented in a more humorous and sensationalist style. Deary had no involvement in these spin-offs, but Reeve became the main illustrator of one of them, 'Murderous Maths' (1997- ), written by Kjartan Poskitt. The books delve into the abstract nature of numbers, but provide interesting facts, games, puzzles, comics and cartoons. He livened up the pages of 'Guaranteed to Bend Your Brain', 'Guaranteed to Mash Your Mind' (1998), 'The Mean & Vulgar Bits' (2000), 'Desperate Measures' (2000), 'Do You Feel Lucky?' (2001), 'Savage Shapes' (2002), 'The Key To The Universe' (2002), 'The Phantom X' (2003), 'The Fiendish Angletron' (2004), 'The Perfect Sausages' (2005) and 'Easy Questions, Evil Answers' (2010). Only three titles have been illustrated by other artists, namely 'Awesome Arithmetricks' (by Daniel Postgate and Rob Davis, 1998), 'The Secret Life of Codes' (by Ian Baker, 2007) and 'The Most Epic Book of Maths Ever' (also by Rob Davis, 2010).
Horrible Histories spin-offs: 'Awful Art' and 'Dead Famous'
Reeve also provided comics and cartoons to Michael Cox' 'Awful Art' (1997), about art history. He was additionally a prominent contributor to Hippo/Scholastic's 'Dead Famous' series, devoted to the lives of famous historical figures. Reeve livened up the pages of Kjartan Poskitt's 'Isaac Newton and His Apple' (1999), Alan MacDonald's 'Henry the VIII and His Chopping Block' (1999), 'Al Capone And His Gang' (199) and 'Oliver Cromwell and His Warts' (2000), Margaret Simpson's 'Cleopatra And Her Asp' (2000), 'Mary, Queen of Scots and Her Hopeless Husbands' and 'Elizabeth I and Her Conquests' (both from 2001), Mike Goldsmith's 'Albert Einstein and His Inflatable Universe' (2001), Michael Cox' 'Elvis and His Pelvis' (2001), Phil Robins' 'Joan of Arc and Her Marching Orders' (2002) and 'Horatio Nelson and His Victory' (2003). The other prominent illustrator of 'Dead Famous' is Clive Goddard.
Literary career
In 2001, Reeve chose a different career path and moved from illustrating books for children and young adults to writing them. His first novel, 'Mortal Engines', is a steampunk story set in a postapocalyptic society. The work was a bestseller and received good reviews, paving the way for the sequels 'Predator's Gold' (2003), 'Infernal Devices' (2005) and 'A Darkling Plain' (2006). A spin-off, the 'Fever Crumb' trilogy, followed in 2009, comprised of the novels 'Fever Crumb' (2009), 'A Web of Air' (2010) and 'Scrivener's Moon' (2001). Reeve has additional written a few short stories set in the same universe. In 2018, 'Mortal Engines' was adapted into film by Christian Rivers, produced and co-adapted into a screenplay by Peter Jackson, but the movie received bad reviews and flopped.
Reeve delved into historical fiction with 'Here Lies Arthur' (2007), a young adult novel set in medieval Britain during the reign of the mythological King Arthur. In 2016, he rewrote the ancient legend of 'Gawain and the Green Knight' for a children's audience, published in the Oxford Reading Tree series. Between 2006 and 2009, he returned to steampunk with the 'Larklight' novels, set in an alternate version of the Victorian Era. The books, comprised of 'Larklight' (2006), 'Starcross' (2007) and 'Mothstorm' (2008) were illustrated by David Wyatt and published by Bloomsbury. Reeve additionally wrote the science fiction trilogy 'Railhead', comprised of 'Railhead' (2015), 'Black Light Express' (2016) and 'Station Zero' (2018), and the supernatural thriller series 'Utterly Dark', consisting of 'The Face of the Deep' (2021), 'The Heart of the Wild' (2022) and 'The Tides of Time' (2023).
Reeve has also written books for younger children, such as the 'Buster Bayliss' series, of which four volumes have been published by Scholastic between 2002 and 2003. Young Buster is a young schoolboy who often has to save the world from strange fantasy creatures. Reeve wrote the fantasy series 'Goblins' (2012-2014), illustrated by Dave Semple. Together with U.S. writer/illustrator Sarah McIntyre, he wrote four books, 'Oliver and the Seawigs' (retitled as 'Oliver and the Sea Monkeys' in the U.S., 2013), 'Cakes in Space' (2014), 'Pugs of the Frozen North' (2015), 'Jinks & O'Hare Funfair Repair' (retitled as 'Carnival in a Fix' in the U.S., 2016), 'Pug-a-Doodle-Do!' (2017) and the four-volume 'Roly-Poly Flying Pony' series (2018-2021) and five-volume 'Adventuremice' series (since 2023). McIntyre provided illustrations for all their collaborations.
Together with Brian Mitchell, Reeve has also written a succesful humorous musical, 'The Ministry of Biscuits' (1998).
Recognition
Reeve's novel, 'Mortal Engines', received the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (2002) in the category '9-11 years old' and two Blue Peter Book Awards, namely for 'Book of the Year' (2003) and 'Book I Couldn't Put Down' (2003). In 2006, he was honored with the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize for 'A Darkling Plain', followed by the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Fiction. His book 'Here Lies Arthur' was crowned with a Carnegie Medal for Writing (2008). Reeve won two other Blue Peter Book Awards, each one in the category 'Favorite Story', respectively in 2011, for 'A Web of Air', and in 2014, for 'Oliver and the Seawigs'.
'Horrible Histories: Dark Knights and Dingy Castles'.