“The Snowman” children’s author Raymond Briggs dies at 88

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The British children’s author and illustrator whose creations include “The Snowman” and “Fungus the Bogeyman” has died. Raymond Briggs’ family says he died Tuesday at age 88. “The Snowman” is a wordless book that tells the bittersweet story of a boy’s wintry creation coming to life. More than 5.5 million copies have sold since its 1978 publication. That book and Briggs’ “Father Christmas” and “Fungus the Bogeyman” were adapted for television. He also wrote and illustrated “When the Wind Blows,” a story about the aftermath of a nuclear attack. An executive at Penguin Random House children’s books called Briggs’ books “picture masterpieces that address some of the fundamental questions of what it is to be human.”