Don't Want to Go!
  • Published: 1 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9781862306707
  • Imprint: Red Fox Picture Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $22.99

Don't Want to Go!

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A wonderfully reassuring tale from master storyteller, Shirley Hughes

Mum is ill and Dad has to go to work, so Lily will have to go to Melanie's house for the day. Dad says she'll have lots of fun, but there's a problem: Lily doesn't want to go!

Join Lily as she braves Melanie's house, and realises that doing new things needn't be scary after all...
  • Published: 1 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9781862306707
  • Imprint: Red Fox Picture Books
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 32
  • RRP: $22.99
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About the author

Shirley Hughes

Shirley Hughes illustrated more than 200 children's books and is one of the best-loved writers for children, known for her beloved classics including the Alfie and Annie Rose stories, and Dogger.


Shirley Hughes was born in West Kirby, near Liverpool, in 1927, and studied fashion and dress design at Liverpool Art School, before continuing her studies at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art in Oxford. She started her career as a freelance illustrator in London, illustrating other writers' work, including Noel Streatfeild, Alison Uttley, Ian Seraillier and notably Dorothy Edwards's My Naughty Little Sister series.


Shirley began to write and draw her own picture books when her children were young. Her first book - Lucy and Tom's Day - was published in 1960, and she followed it with, among others, Dogger, and the Alfie series. Her books include the wordless picture book Up and Up, collection of rhymes and poems Out and About, and for the very young The Nursery Collection.

She wrote two novels for older children, Hero on a Bicycle, about a 13-year-old Italian boy during the occupation of Florence, and Whistling in the Dark, set during the Liverpool Blitz. Her memoir, A Life Drawing, was published in 2002.

She also collaborated with her daughter, Clara Vulliamy, on the Dixie O'Day series; which saw Shirley with an illustrator for the first time with Shirley writing the text and Clara creating the illustrations.

In 2020 she returned to her much-loved character, Dogger, with a new story Dogger's Christmas.

Shirley Hughes has won the Other Award, the Eleanor Farjeon Award, and the Kate Greenaway Medal for Illustration twice, for Dogger in 1977 and for Ella's Big Chance in 2003. In 2007 Dogger was voted the public's favourite Greenaway winner of all time. She was Highly Commended for the Greenaway Medal for The Lion and the Unicorn in 1998. Shirley received an OBE in 1999 for services to Children's Literature, and a CBE in 2017. She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was the first recipient of BookTrust's Lifetime Achievement Award.

Shirley died in London in 2022.

portrait photo of Shirley Hughes

Also by Shirley Hughes

A Shirley Hughes Christmas
Dogger's Christmas
Alfie on Holiday
Dogger
Miracle at Augusta
Alfie and Mum
Lucy & Tom: From A to Z
See all

Praise for Don't Want to Go!

Hughes is such a phenomenon - this is as good as anything she's done

Observer

Hughes takes the simplest of themes . . . and gives it universal significance. Make that woman a dame!

Sunday Telegraph

Every picture tells a story... and what pictures they are!

Lancashire Evening Post

Pre-school children will relate to this new story . . . For Hughes to produce yet another classic book is unquestionably a remarkable achievement for someone who first illustrated a children's book in 1953

Books for Keeps

Shirley Hughes beautifully captures the little details and small moments of an insecure toddler's life . . . Hughes really understands the worries and fears of small children, she knows instinctively how to step back and observe the small details

Niamh Sharkey, The Irish Times

Like Alfie, Lily is set to become a big favourite with the pre-school child

Jack Ousbey, Carousel

Wonderfully observed characters which will strike a chord with every family, this addresses the issues of insecurity felt by toddlers and addresses those concerns in an approachable and reassuring way. A lovely book which will deservedly become a favourite in many homes. Highly recommended

Parents in touch

Famous for the much-loved Alfie stories and Dogger, this author knows exactly how a child's mind works, and not only tells each story brilliantly, but illustrates them to appeal to young minds too . . . If your child is reluctant to try new things, this may be the bit of reassurance they're after

South Wales Argus