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Elise and the Gold Gloop
Elise and her annoying dog, Smorg, explore the twisty tunnels and tottering towers of Porridge Castle that sits between the Dogtooth mountains and the Miserable sea like an elephant on a beach towel.
A magical place of happy ghosts, giant dancing spiders and rude signposts. Where the flying cows roam and a flame-proof hat is essential in case of dragons. Yet things are going wrong, the magic is running out and the castle thinks Elise can help.
With armour and sword to protect her, Elise and her companions search hidden, dangerous places for the Lost Mines and the answer to the mystery of the missing magical gold Gloop.
First chapter book for ages 6-8
A magical place of happy ghosts, giant dancing spiders and rude signposts. Where the flying cows roam and a flame-proof hat is essential in case of dragons. Yet things are going wrong, the magic is running out and the castle thinks Elise can help.
With armour and sword to protect her, Elise and her companions search hidden, dangerous places for the Lost Mines and the answer to the mystery of the missing magical gold Gloop.
First chapter book for ages 6-8
69 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 11, 2013
8 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 17, 2013
[Full disclosure - I am the author and this is how I came to write this book]
At the age of six, my daughter was a good reader for her age, but refused to start reading “proper books” with chapters and no pictures. She was bored with “Horrid Henry” and fairies saving a rainbow yet once more and insisted that she was old enough to read proper books, but every one she tried was “too difficult”. It wasn’t she couldn’t read them, it was the concepts and storylines; they were all designed for nine and ten year olds.
There was another problem too. She wanted to read about girls, yet all the books about girls we could find were twee and dull. My daughter is happy to read about a princess, along as she is a Ninja Princess; happy to save rainbows, as long as it involves a good sword fight or perhaps a well-planned heist.
After a few months of this, my lovely daughter stopped reading. We tried most of the “first chapter books” that people recommend; all met with disinterest. So I asked her exactly what she wanted in a “proper book”. After much though, she wrote down:
“Dragons, princess, zombies, vampires, ghosts, but not spiders and it should be funny and scary and have fighting in it.”
We couldn’t find such a book with concepts and vocabulary suitable for a six year old – so I wrote one. I had written novels before, but not a children’s book, so I had help from my daughter to find the right level. There were other issues too; my daughter was terrified of the idea of ghosts and very frightened of spiders. So I added in the concept of happy ghosts and theatrical spiders that love to perform.
I POD published a copy and gave it to her. It was a success. After critical review by my daughter and re-writes, my daughter considered it just right. To quote “I can’t believe you wrote this Daddy, it’s just like a real book”.
She started going upstairs on her own without fear of ghosts and asking politely if I would remove the spider from the bathroom, rather than run away screaming. She started reading again and now, two years later, is a firm fan of Holly Short (from the Artemis Fowl books) and Hermione Granger.
TL:DR I wrote a children’s book to help my daughter and it worked.
At the age of six, my daughter was a good reader for her age, but refused to start reading “proper books” with chapters and no pictures. She was bored with “Horrid Henry” and fairies saving a rainbow yet once more and insisted that she was old enough to read proper books, but every one she tried was “too difficult”. It wasn’t she couldn’t read them, it was the concepts and storylines; they were all designed for nine and ten year olds.
There was another problem too. She wanted to read about girls, yet all the books about girls we could find were twee and dull. My daughter is happy to read about a princess, along as she is a Ninja Princess; happy to save rainbows, as long as it involves a good sword fight or perhaps a well-planned heist.
After a few months of this, my lovely daughter stopped reading. We tried most of the “first chapter books” that people recommend; all met with disinterest. So I asked her exactly what she wanted in a “proper book”. After much though, she wrote down:
“Dragons, princess, zombies, vampires, ghosts, but not spiders and it should be funny and scary and have fighting in it.”
We couldn’t find such a book with concepts and vocabulary suitable for a six year old – so I wrote one. I had written novels before, but not a children’s book, so I had help from my daughter to find the right level. There were other issues too; my daughter was terrified of the idea of ghosts and very frightened of spiders. So I added in the concept of happy ghosts and theatrical spiders that love to perform.
I POD published a copy and gave it to her. It was a success. After critical review by my daughter and re-writes, my daughter considered it just right. To quote “I can’t believe you wrote this Daddy, it’s just like a real book”.
She started going upstairs on her own without fear of ghosts and asking politely if I would remove the spider from the bathroom, rather than run away screaming. She started reading again and now, two years later, is a firm fan of Holly Short (from the Artemis Fowl books) and Hermione Granger.
TL:DR I wrote a children’s book to help my daughter and it worked.
Displaying 1 of 1 review