About

The author, Marlene Greenwood, attended Leeds University from 1981-1984, where she achieved an honours degree in Mathematics and the History and Philosophy of Science. She then went on to gain a PGCE in 1985 and taught Mathematics to A level in secondary schools in Yorkshire until 1996.

After taking early retirement in 1996, Marlene began writing and illustrating phonic reading material. Her first attempts were 48 stories about two teddy bears called Tig and Ted.

When the National Literacy Strategy was published in 1998, Marlene realised that her stories fitted the phonics progression of this document. She had coincidentally anticipated the guidelines to teachers in this document. She had a store of phonic material now likely to be in demand.

However, the Tig and Ted characters were proving to be very difficult to illustrate, and it was when two pet kittens came into the family in June 1998, that the inspiration needed to write and illustrate the Jelly and Bean books was complete.

The books were developed over the next couple of years with the help of staff and pupils at Harrogate based Saltergate Infant School and Beckwithshaw Primary school.

The first Jelly and Bean books were published in March 2000 and since then, Jelly and Bean has enjoyed tremendous success and the books are very popular among teachers, parents and children.

Marlene's books have proved particularly useful in Special Needs Classes and the demand from Support Teachers has had a significant impact on the success of Jelly and Bean, with over 20% of the primary schools in England now using these books.