A STRING of tributes have been paid to former Crediton area children’s author and illustrator Dame Babette Cole.

Ron Johns, her publisher at Mabercron Books, confirmed that Babette passed away aged 67, in hospital on Saturday, January 14, after being admitted the previous week with a collapsed lung.

Born in 1950, she was creator of picture books and was best known for “Princess Smartypants”, first published in 1986, which was a feminist retelling of a traditional fairy tale romance.

Her other books included “Mummy Laid an Egg!”, “The Smelly Book” and “The Trouble With Mum”.

In 2014 she released “The Wild West Country Tale of James Rabbit and the Giggleberries”, which was based on her “muse” James Gutans, with Johns’ publishing imprint, Mabercron Books.

Johns, who also owns a mini-chain of bookshops including the Falmouth Bookseller and the Padstow Bookseller, said Babette was a “delightful person” and a “comic genius”.

He added: “In some ways she was as mad as a box of frogs but always very professional.

“She always submitted her artwork on time. She was completely irreverent and loved challenging authority.”

Dee Lalljee, manager, Crediton Community Bookshop, said: “We are very sad to hear of the death of Crediton Community Bookshop patron, the irrepressible Babette Cole.

“It’s hard to capture in words her brilliant, creative, eccentric zest for life - her books and illustrations were pioneering, inspiring and enduring.

“We are deeply grateful to Babette for her proactive support of CCB; she entertained us at our opening, initiated our literacy programme, launched her Devon-based children’s book ‘The Wild West Country Tale of James Rabbit and the Giggleberries’ at the shop and often called in to see how things were progressing.

“Those who met her did not forget her. Our thoughts are with her family and friends.”

Georgina Ford, a close friend and former neighbour, said: “Babette filled children’s lives in a magical world.

“Whosever path she crossed she left them happy.

“She lived in a magical world for children and adults alike, her mind blossomed everywhere. She just reigned happiness.

“She was beautiful, very kind and I will miss her desperately. A light has gone out.”

Children’s laureate Chris Riddell said: “I met her at publishing parties and she was always so full of fun and dressed to the nines.

“It was in keeping with the joyfull wit of her work, exuberant, heartfelt and very funny. Princess Smartypants. We will all miss her.”

Former children’s laureate Michael Rosen said Babette had broken new ground in writing about sex, death and gender with “books that come over first and foremost as incredible fun, full of laughs and craziness.”

He added: “Clearly, behind this lay a belief that shame and self-blame were destructive forces and that we had everything to gain from being truthful, frank and equal in our dealings with each other.”

Several authors and illustrator colleagues have paid tribute to Dame Babette on social media.

Helen Rollick said on “Twitter”: I knew Babette through the Devon Side Saddle Association, she was a keen rider and a lovely lady.”

Locally she held book signings at Crediton Community Bookshop and had also taken part in readings at Crediton Library and opened Down St Mary Village Fete.

In the summer of 2015 she was injured in a cow stampede at her home near Crediton which left her with fractured shoulders and ribs.

More recently Babette, who was known for being flamboyant and for her eccentricity, lived at Winkleigh.

Passionate about horses, she bred multi-award winning show ponies, hunters and cobs.

In total she produced more than 70 picture books.

After graduating from Canterbury College of Art, where she studied animation, Babette collaborated with Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate to create children’s BBC TV programmes including “Bagpuss”. She also worked on “The Clangers” and “Basil Brush”.

Some of Babette’s books were made into cartoons.

In 1983 she received the Kate Greenaway medal for “Princess Smartypants”, an honour she repeated with “Prince Cinders” in 1987.

In 2015 she was commissioned to illustrate a 70th-anniversary edition of Enid Blyton’s classic “The Famous Five: Five on a Treasure Island.”

Alan Quick