Janet Ahlberg
Recognized in the Creative Minds Montessori 2026 Teacher’s Choice list.
Janet Ahlberg is one of roughly one hundred authors whose work was selected by the Montessori-certified teachers at Creative Minds Montessori for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list — 120 books chosen across four reading stages, from first lap-reads to first chapter books. Their 2 selected books were chosen for how precisely they meet children at a real developmental moment. This recognition cannot be bought: no author or publisher paid to appear on our lists, and we take no commission on any book sale.
About Janet Ahlberg
Janet Ahlberg (1944–1994) illustrated some of Britain's most beloved picture books, all written by her husband Allan — a husband-and-wife team whose gentle, detail-packed collaborations won two Kate Greenaway Medals. Her specialty was warm domestic scenes hiding dozens of things to find.
The Ahlbergs worked at a kitchen-table scale: Allan wrote in one room, Janet drew in another, and books like The Jolly Postman — with real letters in real envelopes — came from their delight in making books children could handle as objects.
Also by this author: The Jolly Postman · Peepo! · Funnybones
Publisher page: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/227594/janet-ahlberg
Selected for the 2026 Teacher’s Choice list
Each Peach Pear Plum
Lap Listeners · Sing It, Say It Again
Peepo!
Page Grabbers · Books That Do Things
Part of The Best Children’s Books by Age, chosen by the teachers at Creative Minds Montessori in Frisco, TX.