LUCY Rodgers is a special educational needs (SEN) teacher who had always had an interest in creating a children’s book.
The changes brought about by the coronavirus gave her the opportunity to turn that dream into a reality and the net result is ‘Sadie and Matty Bouse’.
The story is about a girl named ‘Sadie’ who befriends ‘Matty Bouse’ who is a cross between a mouse and a bat. The pair set off on a series of magical adventures and the book’s message is to never give up on your dreams.
“I have wanted to write a little children’s book for so long and so I finally put my pen to paper and got the first book in a little series of children’s books completed,” she said.
The mother of two young children, Sadie and Jude, Lucy lives in Ardara with her husband Brian.
“Over lockdown I would sit down with the two children and read them little books but Sadie used to always say: ‘make one up from your own mouth mummy’ and it got me thinking.
“I’ve been working as an SEN in local schools these past few years and I’ve found myself spending a lot of time making resources to go along with story books so I thought why not include word cards at the back of my book.
“They’re short little stories and the children don’t necessarily have to be able to read properly yet to enjoy the book. It allows them to talk about the pictures. I’m planning to write a series of three books and would like to have them published before Christmas. Sadie is the named character in the first one so I’ll have to make one about Jude too so they’ll have them in their own little library for years to come,” she said.
“I came up with the idea for Matty Bouse after watching Sadie playing with unicorns and a toy mouse that my brother bought her when she was a baby. I realised that she doesn’t differentiate between the two so that’s where my idea came from. He’s half mouse, half bat and can fly. He doesn’t really fit in but hits up a friendship with Sadie.
“I’m working with an illustrator, Daisy Winters, and I’ll wait to see what she comes back with before I start into my second book,” Lucy said.
Well known in the locality, Lucy wrote and staged a musical for the young schoolchildren of the parish five years ago.
“The musical was on my bucket list and so was the book. Now all I need to do is get back to Vegas,” she laughed.
Given the current pandemic, Vegas might have to wait. In the meantime she will continue to explore with Sadie, Jude and Matty Bouse.
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