Budding author Jan Leader has done it again.
Jan, a resident of Karragarra Island with her partner Graeme Mitchell, has produced her second children’s book, Puddlepuss Does a Runner!
The Puddlepuss adventure follows on from her first effort, Anne Threw a Streamer, which caused much interest when it was published last year.
Anne Threw a Streamer was a children’s story based on the adventure’s of Graeme’s great grand mother, World War 1 nurse Sister Anne Donnell.
Her story had earlier been featured in an amazing tale of coincidence that became a story on 60 minutes.
Puddlepuss Does a Runner is being published by Boolarong Press and is the first is a ‘The Coin’ series and involves the story line and 26 illustrated pages.
Jan explains: “The story is very earthy with an Australian flavour.
“Every story has a moral lesson, this one is caring for the waterways. The colours are that of the Australian bush.
“It is about bringing the animals on our Australian coins to life.
“All our coins have animals on them, when no one is looking the animals jump off the coin and have an adventure; then climb back on the coin and tell each other what they got up to.
“All the while us humans have no idea what is going on.”
Jan says because coins travel in people’s pockets they cover a lot of ground and meet other "coinees" from around the world
She believes the series will be global as there are seven stories now completed. Jan has included animals on coins from other countries in the series.
As part of the launch, Jan has done signings at major Brisbane book stores in recent days.
This story line will give you an idea of what to expect from Paddlepuss:
Paddlepuss could hardly believe his luck when he climbed off his 20 cent coin. While on his adventure exploring the beautiful billabong, he was dismayed at the sight of trucks dumping rubbish. He found help from the prettiest little girl platypus, her friends the fairies, and the poatees.
Will the fairies find his coin, and can he keep his bargain with them to teach the children to love nature, or will his shiny 20 cent piece be lost forever?
The books in the series are being illustrated by Macleay Island artist DarRen Goleby.
“He has done a wonderful job with the illustrations,” Jan declared.
“We hope children love this new direction in children’s story telling.”