MONTPELIER, VT. — Best-selling children's book author and illustrator Anna Dewdney, who gained fame with her series of Llama Llama stories, has died at age 50.



Dewdney, who had a 15-month battle with brain cancer, died Saturday at her home in Chester, publisher Penguin Young Readers said.



"The entire Penguin Young Readers family is heartbroken," Jen Loja, president of Penguin Young Readers, said in a statement. "And as we grieve, we also celebrate Anna's life, in dedicating ourselves to carrying forward her mission of putting books into as many little hands as possible."



Dewdney began to gain success in the 1990s as the illustrator of "The Peppermint Race," by Dian Curtis Regan, and other children's books. She gained her greatest success with the series that began with the 2005 launch of "Llama Llama Red Pajama."