Beloved Australian children’s author and illustrator Terry Denton has died aged 76.

His literary agency, Curtis Brown, and publisher Pan Macmillan said Denton died surrounded by his family on Monday.

Denton’s creative partnership with author Andy Griffiths stretched across more than three decades, beginning with Just Tricking! in 1997 and later producing all 13 main Treehouse books, from The 13-Storey Treehouse to The 169-Storey Treehouse.

His wildly inventive drawings helped turn the Treehouse books into a global publishing phenomenon, cementing a spot on children’s bookshelves across Australia.

Beloved Australian children’s author and illustrator Terry Denton has died aged 76.

The series sold more than 10 million copies in Australia and was published in more than 30 countries. The 52-Storey Treehouse became the first children’s title to win the Australian Book Industry Awards’ overall Book of the Year prize.

Denton was also an accomplished author with several published works. His picture book Felix and Alexander won the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Picture Book of the Year award in 1986, while his Gasp! series was adapted for television.

His wildly inventive drawings helped turn the Treehouse books into a global publishing phenomenon, cementing a spot on children’s bookshelves across Australia.

Across his career, he won more than 40 children’s choice awards and was repeatedly shortlisted for major Australian children’s book prizes.

Griffiths described working and playing alongside Denton for more than 30 years as “an honour and a pure delight”.

Denton’s creative partnership with author Andy Griffiths stretched across more than three decades, beginning with Just Tricking! in 1997 and later producing all 13 main Treehouse books, from The 13-Storey Treehouse to The 169-Storey Treehouse.

Griffiths described working and playing alongside Denton for more than 30 years as ‘an honour and a pure delight’.

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Aussie icon Terry Denton dead at 76