Exactly 3 years ago, my 1st Whimsy Wood children’s book, titled ‘Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle’, was published by Abela Publishing based in Sandhurst, England. I had travelled the standard road to traditional publication, with constant writing, editing, submitting my manuscripts to literary agents and publishing houses, getting rejected, picking myself up again, re-writing my Whimsy Wood stories and resubmitting them. For me, this process took around 3 years before I received my much treasured ‘author’s contract’ with Abela Publishing!
Front Cover Of ‘Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle’, Book 1 In The Whimsy Wood Series.
The exceptionally exciting publication of my 1st ever children’s book and the 1st Whimsy Wood story, ‘Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle’, happened barely 2 weeks after the birth of my 3rd child. A baby boy named Monty! What a year 2013 was for us! Three years on and there are now nine books published from my Whimsy Wood series for 5-8 year olds. The latest one being ‘Fearne Fairy And The Chocolate Caterpillar’, which was published on July the 2nd this year.
To celebrate the 3rd birthday of ‘Posie Pixie And The Copper Kettle’, here is an extract from this 1st exciting Whimsy Wood adventure!
‘…..Before she could think anymore, Posie was surprised by a strange clanging and banging sound getting louder and louder behind her.
She turned around to see a beautiful sky-blue caravan being pulled through the wood by a large brown and white carthorse. A round, cheerful woman with rosy red cheeks and dark curly hair was sitting at the front of the caravan. She was holding onto the horse’s reins and singing a merry song as they rode along.
“Fiddle-dee-dum and fiddle-dee-dee,
I’m as happy as I can be!
Trotting along with Henry horse,
For I am Rosa-May of course!”
Now being quite a shy pixie, Posie darted behind the tree stump to hide. From there, she could see the caravan swaying to and fro, to and fro; its bright shiny copper pots and pans swinging and clanging as it went. …..’
I hope you enjoyed that extract from ‘Posie Pixie And The Coppper Kettle’, and you’ll find it listed on the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) recommended summer reading list for this year:- https://www.scbwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/SCBWI-Reading-List-Summer-2016_UK-Ireland1.pdf
Wishing you a wonderfully whimsical week ahead!
Sarah Hill, children’s author and creator of The Whimsy Wood Series.
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