Rachael Saves the Day
I have loved stories for as long as I can remember and was the heroine of many “made up” bedtime tales.
“My Dad used to retell all kinds of stories with me saving the day in some way. I particularly enjoyed stories about animals and regularly asked for the story about a lion with a thorn stuck in his foot (you may know the one!) I was, of course, the one to pull it out and make everything better!”
I had a favourite picture book too. It was The Trouble with Timothy by Dale Maxey. I loved the story of a little boy who longed to look after wild animals. He had a tiger-striped cat, called Fred, but that wasn’t quite the same. The illustrations were fabulous as you can see.
“I have always loved words. Not just for what they mean but for how they sound. I guess that’s why I not only loved reading and writing but learning languages too. At school I took French, Spanish, Latin, and German. There were a few things I used to pride myself on being able to say in twenty different languages. They weren’t always the most useful expressions!”
Words are treasures. They have a quiet kind of magic, transforming the way we think and feel, elevating the ordinary into something extraordinary. I’d like to inspire children to be gatherers, like the little bird I wrote about in Song for a Princess, to collect words as they might seashells, tucking them into their pockets for quieter, greyer days.