‘Stevie’s First Christmas’ is a dream come true. I have always wanted to put my thoughts and stories onto paper and for the first time I have made this happen. It was not a big departure from my job but what was a challenge for me was writing for younger people. However, now I have developed this, I would like to write more stories for this age range.
Stevie was the result of me buying a scraggy little Christmas tree, against my husband’s wishes. It was already beginning to shed its pine needles and it was looking rather sad in the shop – I just couldn’t leave it there! Once I had bought it I had to justify my decision to my husband, so I weaved a little fantasy about him. My husband, bemused as ever by my quirky sense of fun and adventure, dared me to write this down. Eventually, I picked up the gauntlet and wrote the story. At this point, I dared George to draw the pictures, which reluctantly he did, doing an absolutely brilliant job.
This has been a fantastic experience for me - from writing it, designing and liaising with the publisher, through to promoting it in the media. It has made me want to write more books for young children. Reading my book to groups of young children and seeing their eager responses, has made me realise that education of young minds takes many different forms.
