Calm Pond

Are you looking for the ideal bedtime book for your child? A book where you and your child can connect to strong characters and develop essential life skills through fun?

Then look no further than Calm Pond!

Calm Pond is in Blackstone Edge. It is a wonderful place, a special place.

It can be quiet and beautiful, but it can also be noisy and fun as it is the home of some amazing creatures!

The creatures of Calm Pond live and work together, helping each other to form a strong community.

The nine short stories cover many topics to help children understand many life issues, such as equality, resilience, honesty, change, strengths and weaknesses, anxiety, differences, empathy, and bereavement.

Calm Pond – educating and entertaining!

Dartmouth and Cuthbert's Car Adventures

Dartmouth is a 7-year-old brown teddy bear. He is rather grumpy, very wise and knows a lot. Cuthbert is Dartmouth’s friend. He is a 4-year-old green dragon. He is very lively and rushes about everywhere. His breath is only just warm as he is a baby, but his tail flicks about all over the place! He loves telling jokes to Dartmouth.

They sit on the front passenger seat with the seat belt on when Mum takes her twin boys to school in the car. Oliver and Lewis are 5 years old and identical. They can’t sit in front as Mum wouldn’t know which is which, and they would argue a lot about whose turn it is.

The boys’ favourite soft toys Dartmouth and Cuthbert (known to each other as Squeezums and Fishooks), sit next to Mum with Oliver and Lewis in the back. Dad works in London during the week, so doesn’t know about the furry friends’ adventures.

Dee's Stories: The Accident

Dee is an ordinary girl with three extraordinary stories to tell. This is the story of The Accident.

Children learn the importance of road safety from a very young age and know what might happen if the rules of the road are not followed. The Accident tells a story of what happened to Dee when she didn’t do as she was told and decided to cross the road alone...

Dee's Stories: The Big C

Dee is an ordinary girl with three extraordinary stories to tell. This is the story of The Big C.

Dee was a normal, healthy kid growing up. That was until something happened that meant her life was suddenly turned upside down. At the age of 12, Dee was diagnosed with the frightening ‘C’ word that everybody knew – Cancer. Dee’s experiences of receiving the bad news, having treatment and surviving this dreaded disease are shared in this story.

Fairies at Number 55

“Nobody in the world will admit to having seen a fairy, but it doesn’t mean they are not there.”

“Fairies are kind and they always, always do the sweetest, gentlest things for you and for all that you love, but rarely will they be visible. But you just never know…”

Fairy mum, Starlight, is beautiful. Sheer gossamer wings with a duck-egg blue hue, her tinkling voice always sounds like tiny cymbals chinking as she laughs, forever checking her fairy family, imploring them to keep kindness and gentleness to the fore of every endeavour.

From their garden at number 55, the family of fairies, Starlight and Nimbus, their fairy children, Mimosa, Chicory and Chirrup, Lychen and Moss, weave in and out of the lives of various woodland and water creatures, “giants” and their pets, all along the leafy green and cool bridleway.

Calling, along the way, upon such firm friends as doves, Darcy and Dill and magpies, Mick and Maggie, Spinner the friendly spider, and Skeet the generous dog, the fairies cheerfully carry out rescues, avert danger, make gifts, and even bring love to two lonely foxes.

Grumpy Gramps

Grumpy Gramps can often be found taking an impromptu nap under a tree on a bright sunny day, when he believes he is away from prying eyes. However, his young grandchildren are often in hot pursuit to catch Grumpy up to his usual tricks. Grumpy is a cantankerous old chap who is shy of hard work and loves nothing better than getting the upper hand over his long-suffering family with whom he resides, his daughter Maggie and her three children Clara, Emma and William. They love having a day out together but these trips usually result in Grumpy getting into some kind of a scrape.

Jock the Sheepdog

This is the story about a border collie puppy who is the sole survivor of a litter born in the wild in the hills above the Town of Drummond in the Scottish Highlands. He is found, reared and trained by a local hill farmer and becomes renowned for his intelligence, courage and endurance. His remarkable series of adventures eventually see him win the 'One Man and his Dog trophy' competition on television. 

Magnificent, Marvellous Minibeasts

A series of short stories written about minibeasts for young children and self-readers.

Do you know the minibeasts in your garden? Enjoy listening and reading about their adventures and learn some fun facts about each minibeast. Can you learn the Beetlebop with Bertie Beetle? Or follow the figure-of-eight dance with Belinda Buzz Bee and Walter? Or can you follow Sydney Snail and Eva’s trail around the garden? What about reading how Willie Waspie catches the robbers and saves the day?

Tales from the Broom Cupboard

Joe and Alex have new adventures during lockdown when they discover a time machine under the stairs. With their newfound friends, Flash, a cheetah and Slither, a python, they travel all over the galaxy, past, present and future, meeting amazing people and having a great time as their pets develop magic powers. Meet Mr Leek and the Little People with the boys as they discover new worlds.

Seven Woodlands Magic Stories

A truly delightful children’s fiction book with beautifully illustrated drawings. These seven enchanting woodlands stories, which all took place a long time ago in the vast magical woodlands, far away on the north side of the Earth, will capture the imagination of the younger audience.

The adventures of these magical woodlands and their leading characters provide a charming atmosphere to capture those wildest of imaginations. A mystical animal that can cast precious stones out of thin air, an amazing bird that glows as bright as a flame or even an unusual magic flower that can grant your wishes.

Each story contains an underlying moral presence of what is good and bad to help teach the young reader. The best outcome of each of these wonderful and exciting adventures is capturing the creativity and involving the reader through an array of textual sound imitations to emphasise the impact of each meaning.

Follow the mysterious Silver Hoofed Goat through the woods, fly with the exotic Firebird and even swim with the Princes Swan in the lake. These short magic stories are only the beginning.

The Tales of Mr Mouse and Friends

Join Mr. Mouse as he tends to his award-winning garden, makes friendships, meets Hilda his future wife, all the while drinking lots of tea and eating lots of cake. Mr. Mouse is a popular character whose door is always open, who is on hand to help anyone who needs assistance, who will rally around a worthwhile cause and who is highly thought of throughout the woodland community. Each chapter is a short story of its own and set in a season, there are twelve chapters following Mr. Mouse over three years. Read about the woodlands during a harsh winter when the woodlands are covered in six-foot snow drifts, during spring when the season is changing from winter, summer when Mr. Mouse’s award-winning gardens are at their best and autumn when the trees and plants are losing their leaves.

Mr. Mouse with a house on the River Louse will become a favourite bedtime story for your children.

The Twitterings of Ten Garden Birds

Birds live in their own secret world.

Birds are beautiful little creatures that have the gift of flight – they look down upon us from the trees, rooftops, the church spire and the weather vane, before deciding whose garden to visit this day. They have a marvellous navigational aid allowing them to migrate and then return. They have a short life span. The sparrow’s for one, so ordinary with its mousy feathers, is only 10 months.

This then, is the raison d'être for writing this book.