THE LAND OF MEOW
I have celebrated New Year 2020 by releasing an illustrated children's book.
The human/animal urban fantasy is suited to emergent and independent readers 8-10 years of age (if I have judged correctly) with the inclusion of a few more challenging words that expand the vocabulary.
Knowing that children's literature requires illustration to succeed has held me back for many years, but I finally created cartoon-like illustrations to make it appeal to the age group. I was emboldened by the fact that illustrations in primary readers are often line drawings, watercolors, cartoons & other rough images which I felt I might just manage to match with the aid of computer drawing packages.
I meant to make it free on Amazon, but have discovered that is not possible. (I'm still investigating other options, including putting a PDF on Academia.com because the story was born out of a pitch I had to develop as part of a university subject ENCO310: Children’s Literature: Picture Books and Fantasy completed at the University of New England in 2009).
The lecturer suggested our assignment book proposals could be developed into full-length books, but I was never inspired to fill out the whole 20,000 words I proposed. Instead, around 2009 I released five mini-adventures as serials on Watt Pad. Although that site is primarily designed for Young Adult readers, the tale reached number 23 in #Primary and attracted a few comments.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PJ8R5J7
The ebook is ideal for loading into children's electronic devices as a reader. However, there will be a paperback version released for parents who prefer to give their children reading matter in print. The other book in the series will follow, as soon as my hand has recovered from the cramp of illustrating this one and is able to illustrate the next. This story has been replaced by a placeholder message on Watt Pad. However, the sequels are still available to read online until each is illustrated, given a final edit, and released officially.
