children’s fiction

Ziggy books

Ziggy is a wee alien who’s come to Earth on a special mission to learn about road safety.

What started out as a brief to create a resource for 4-6 year olds in Scotland has become a bit of phenomenon.

The series of seven books are now in every primary school in Scotland. (With audio versions voiced by Balamory’s Miss Hollie.)

There’s a Travelling Ziggy toy and backpack. And schools have gone to town with their own Ziggy activities which they share online.

There’s even a dedicated Ziggy section in Glasgow’s Riverside museum.

He also tours round schools and community events. Though, strangely, he’s a lot bigger in real life than he is in the books.

(Ziggy may or may not have been inspired by a certain music icon…)

During lockdown I wrote a walking story activity for parents to do with their wee ones. Nothing fancy, just an illustrated PDF. Ciick on the Rainbow Walk image to open.

  • Scottish Learning Festival

  • Riverside Museum exhibit

  • Community Gala Day

  • Ziggy n' me

  • Backpack learning resource

CBeebies: Hey Duggee

Hey Duggee The Story Badge can be read in the CBeebies app.

But, basically…

The ‘squirrels’, as they’re known, have upset Enid the cat with their boisterous behaviour. They finally agree that a story would be a great way to cheer her up. But what book should they read?

Spoiler alert: They work together to make up their own story. Enid is once again a happy kitty.

Image only, not a live link. (If you have wee people definitely get the app as there’s loads of great stuff on there.)

BBC Learning

Click on the image if you’d like to hear the story.

(You’ll be redirected to BBC Sounds.)

Rabbie Burns Ebook

Rabbie Burns ebook for kids. Or grown-ups who want to find out more about our main man.

Click on image to read.

COMEDY

Comedy is the best creative work-out for any writer.

You need to nail the structure. There’s no room for any fat. And you have to keep your funny bones flexed.

I was lucky enough to land a place on the BBC Comedy Writersroom* in 2018 (12 of us were chosen from over 5,300 applicants). And was also awarded a place on the BBC Children’s Voices scheme in 2020.

Both these opportunities have led to some lovely TV and radio commissions.

I’m always, always writing. I write sketches and song pastiches for Witsherface (a Glasgow-based comedy collective). My work has been performed on the radio, online and we’ve done several live shows for the Glasgow International Comedy Festival.

And, like all comedy writers, I have a bunch of pilots on my desktop that got close…but no cigar.

But hey, we do it for the love, not the glory.

*Links to The BBC site to a blog I wrote about the experience.