Gina Calleja Explained

Birth Date:	March 12, 1928
Occupation:	author and illustrator
Birth Name:	Jean Gadsby
Birth Place:	Lowestoft, England
Alma Mater:	Reading University Slade School of Fine Art
Spouse:	Joseph Calleja

Gina Calleja, born Jean Gadsby, (March 12, 1928 – March 7, 2017) was an author and illustrator of children's books in Canada.^[1]

Personal life and education

Calleja was born Jean Gadsby in Lowestoft, England.^[2] She studied art at Reading University and London University's Slade School of Fine Art.^[3]

She married Joseph Calleja, a painter and sculptor from Malta, and the pair moved to Canada in 1958.

She died March 7, 2017.

Career

Calleja worked as a secondary school teacher in Toronto. In 1980, she created the illustrations for Caroline Beech's Peas again for lunch.^[4] Soon after, she illustrated two of Frank Etherington's stories, The Spaghetti Word Race and Those Words.

Calleja created her first children's book as an author in 1983, entitled Tobo Hates Purple.^[5] She continued to write and illustrate over the next two decades; her most recent book is Great Food for Happy Kids in 2001.

Publications

As author

• Tobo Hates Purple, 1983^{[6] [7]}
• Wizzo and the Cookie Babies, 1994
• Bloor and Christie, 1998^[8]

As illustrator

• Peas Again for Lunch, 1980.
• The Spaghetti Word Race, 1981
• Those Words, 1982
• Great Food for Happy Kids, 2001 ^[9]

External links

• WorldCat report
• "Gina Calleja". Family placed obituary in the Toronto Star, March 10, 2017.

Notes and References

1. Book: Ontario. Provincial Library Service. Ontario. Libraries and Community Information Branch. In Review : Canadian Books for Young People. 1981. Provincial Library Service. 30–31.
2. Book: Evelyn de Rostaing McMann. Biographical Index of Artists in Canada. 2003. University of Toronto Press. 978-0-8020-2790-0. 36–.
3. Book: Canadian Children's Literature. 1983. Canadian Children's Press. 79.
4. Book: Emergency Librarian. 8-9. 1980. Rockland Press. 35.
5. https://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/cmarchive/vol12no1/tobohatespurple.html "TOBO HATES PURPLE"
6. http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/47709169?versionId=60621152 "Tobo Hates Purple.(Book Review)"
7. http://www.booksincanada.com/pdfs/83/dec83.pdf "Great Escapes"
8. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/eppp-archive/100/201/300/cm/html/2001/v08n02/vol5/no9/bloorandchristie.html "Bloor and Christie: The Mystery of the Bright Red Ribbon."
9. http://www.culinaryhistorians.ca/newsletters/CC_32.pdf "Great Food for Happy Kids"