Grannys Enchanted Rug

Granny’s Enchanted Rug is a charming children’s book.  It is aimed at 6-8 year-olds and contains all their favourite elements, magic, adventure, humour and talking animals.  A little life lesson has been incorporated to give some meaning to the tales.

The heroine is 6-year-old Lily, a bright little girl with an enquiring mind.  She is collected from school each day by her granny whilst her parents work in the city.  Every day brings a new discussion point for the walk home including education, litter, death and dog ownership. After a healthy snack Granny takes Lily to the spare room where, on the floor, there is a rug embroidered with a map of the world and a comfy armchair.  Lily sits cross legged on the rug and closes her eyes. Granny says the magic words ‘Fabulosa fabula’ and Lily is whisked away on an adventure somewhere in the world where she gains another perspective on the problem of the day.  Her travels include visiting Niger where she learns how important school is, Japan where she fights the litter monster and Romania where she meets three adorable stray dogs. The other two stories cover death where Lily visits Mexico for ‘The day of the Dead’ celebrations encountering a very antagonistic Mexican Coati and Buckingham Palace where she meets Mr Mouse, the butler and learns why manners and respect are important.

At the end of each adventure Lily returns to her rug and is transported back to the safety of Granny’s spare room as soon as she closes her eyes. The more discerning parent might question whether Lily really goes anywhere or whether her grandmother is not just a great story teller particularly as the magic words mean ‘Wonderful story’ in Latin.

The bespoke illustrations have been brilliantly created by the artist to my specifications and bring each story to life.

The idea for the book came from a young cousin who saw her mother reading The Perspex Floor and asked if I would write a story for her.  When I asked what she liked in a book she said, magic, adventure and talking animals. I decided to add a little bit of a life lesson for good measure and wrote Lily learns a lesson. My little relative loved the story and asked for more so Granny’s Enchanted Rug was born.

It was important to me that the stories covered things, that I think, are important in childhood.  I wanted children and parents reading the book to know that no matter what adventure Lily was on, Granny was looking after her by being there are the beginning and the end.  It was also important that Lily came back with more understanding than when she left. The walk back from school for exercise and healthy snack so as not to ruin tea are also deliberate elements.

Reading and books were a huge part of my childhood.  One of my favourite memories is of sitting by an open fire in our cosy living room at dusk listening to my mother bring Mary Poppins, The Wind in the Willows and Winnie the Pooh to life.  The library in the local town in the 1960’s, was a dusty, dingy place from the outside but the treasures I found in the children’s section live with me forever.  I loved that place. My favourite TV programme in that era was Jackanory where actors read stories out loud. It captivated me. Teaching me a love of books was the best gift my mother ever gave me; she would probably have wished that she had had the same success with sewing and hand writing and cooking…

The book has received great reviews!