Freddie is desperate for a pet, so he knows just what to wish for. But he keeps getting the wrong things. If only he didn’t mumble and cover up his mouth!
“Thank you,” said the fairy. “My name is Bessie-Belle.
I’ll grant you all your wishes, though I can’t hear very well.”
“A delightful tale full of Julia Donaldson’s trademark rhyme and wit, with a subtle message about hearing impairments” My child and me
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Julia says ... |
This book is really about lip-reading. I am hard of hearing, and had toyed for a long time with the idea of writing a story about a deaf character. Then in 2013 the bookshop Waterstones asked me to write a story for a competition called “Picture This”, to find a new illustrator, and I decided that the moment had come!
About a thousand would-be illustrators entered the competition. They all drew the main characters from the story, and then the six runners-up had to draw some of the scenes. The winner was the exceptionally talented Karen George who has gone on to illustrate another of my books and a few of her own.
Deaf children love to read stories about people like themselves and to spot hearing aids in the pictures, and I have had lots of heart-warming letters about this book.
I do have another story with a deafness theme – What the Jackdaw Saw, which I wrote jointly with a group of deaf children.
Click here to watch a performance of this story on “Julia Donaldson and Friends”.
