Hello, I'm Melanie and this is my first post on a new blog I've set up to talk about children's books, literature, stories, ideas and anything else I feel passionate about.
I've written a book called 'Why, Mummy?' which has been illustrated by my daughter Amy-Scarlett and is due to be published in 2021. We're really excited to be working with The Book Guild to bring it to fruition.
Let me tell you a bit about how 'Why, Mummy?' came about. Well, let's say it's been a long time coming! I originally wrote the story (and many others) to entertain my children, Amy-Scarlett and Alexander, when they were young. They're both adults now, so we're talking about 15 years or more ago. I originally intended to illustrate the stories myself, but working full-time and bringing up two kids meant life got in the way. I thought one day I'd finally get around to doing it, but never found the time - until Covid-19 came along and the world went into lockdown.
In common with the rest of the UK and indeed most of the planet as a whole, my normal daily life ground to a halt. Suddenly I had more enforced home time to fill. It was then that I decided to dust off some of the old stories still lurking in my computer and asked my daughter if she'd like to illustrate them. Amy-Scarlett is a wonderful artist and had plenty of free time on her hands as her work in theatre costume had dried up due to the pandemic. It was an absolute delight to work with her and together we came up with the illustration ideas to bring the story of Sam and his day out to life.
The story of 'Why Mummy?' is built around two premises i) young children ask A LOT of questions and sometimes, even the saintliest mummies and daddies sometimes get fed up and reply with an exasperated or flippant answer! ii) Mums in particular want their children to 'wrap up warm' whatever the weather - well, at least I did! In this book, Sam's mum is determined he wraps up well for whatever the weather will throw at him that day. I won't give the story away, but let's say there's a humorous twist in the tale!
Amy-Scarlett produced some charming drawings, as I knew she would, full of life and gentle humour. There are lots of little visual jokes which I can imagine parents pointing out to their children as they read the story. The story itself is designed to be entertaining, but also educational. It repeats certain key words, like items of clothing and types of weather, so fledgling readers begin to recognise simple word patterns and spellings.
Having seen the quality of Amy-Scarlett's illustrations for 'Why, Mummy?' I knew they were worthy of publication. So, after lockdown eased I approached The Book Guild with the manuscript and selected drawings - and they loved them! They offered to publish the book and we were delighted to accept. So, while we go through the process of getting the book published, I decided to put this website together to mark its progress. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog and ultimately, the book 'Why, Mummy?' which is intended to be the first of a planned series of 'Why?' picture books. Thanks for reading this far and welcome to my world!
