The Wish Fish was published in February 2021 and is a picture book I wrote for a special Heritage Lottery project. It’s an inclusive, diverse story about two children – Jim and Jemima – who dream about fixing their grandad’s busted, old boat. They don’t believe they have the skills to do it, and think they’re too small, until the magical Wish Fish comes along!

The Wish Fish helps the children discover their skills to mend the boat, and this is where the story’s core message comes through. The book is a STEM tool for libraries, schools, and nurseries (STEM stands for the curriculum promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and is based on the real-life story of an old warship called SS Freshspring that has recently been renovated to bring it back to life.

It was a joy to create this book because of its special message to young children. But, also, because I got to work with my lovely and talented illustrator friend, Becca May Bracey on it. Becca is very clever with her drawings and – as you can see below – she worked hard to create lots of practice sketches before we made the final book.

The Wish Fish is available – free! – in libraries, schools and at certain book festivals, so look out for it. Becca and I will be doing lots of fun, craft and writing activities relating to the book, so drop us a line if you’d like us do one for your school or festival.