A Shropshire town councillor has created a children’s character - Arthur the dragon - for the first of what is hoped to be a series of children’s books dealing with issues they will face in their young lives.
Lesley Durbin (right) is a Much Wenlock councillor, a mother, and a grandmother, and has developed Arthur from stories she told her own children years ago - they are now in their 30s.
“The idea is that it will be the start of a series of character-based children’s stories which will deal with simple issues which children face, like bullying, sharing, or making friends,” she said.
“I’m probably a bit old fashioned in the way I feel we should be bringing up and teaching our children, which should not be about material things or about what they must have and what the latest fashions are, but about how we live with each other and how they should play together. Playing together is about learning to live together, isn’t it? I just feel they’re important life lessons.”
Arthur is, she says, a good dragon.
“He is a very happy dragon, but he doesn’t have the same things all the other dragons have, which is breathing fire. So he learns through his own efforts to make the best of it, and there’s a surprising twist at the end.”
The book is aimed to be read to children aged between three and six, and she will be in Wenlock Books at Much Wenlock on April 5 at 10.30am for a story reading for children, and will also be signing books.
She has illustrated the book, which is called simply “Arthur”, herself and it is her first venture into children’s writing, although she has had other work published.
“I have published a number of articles and written a text book about architectural tiles. I work in the conservation of architectural tiles at Jackfield.”
A second Arthur story is in the pipeline, with the same group of characters - this time on the theme of sharing - and she is also writing a novel.
Mrs Durbin went on to the town council to try to get improvements to Much Wenlock’s children’s play area.
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