Ten Tales for Bright Tots
These stories were written for our grandson during the Chinese virus lockdown. Charlie, aged five, used to stay with us weekly. Whenever he did, I made up a story to tell him at bedtime, just as I used to do for our own children, daughter Jessica (Charlie’s mother) and son Patrick, and also for our nephew, Tom, when we stayed at his house. During the pandemic, the stories were sent to other family members and were welcomed and enjoyed by children up to age ten at several homes in England, as well as ones in Scotland and New Zealand. There are plans to publish the stories as an illustrated children’s book. In the meantime, they are available for transmission as emails for £5, payable via bank transfer. Please contact nick@nicholasdykes.com to obtain a copy. (By the way, it took at least twenty times longer to write the stories than it did to make one up at Charlie’s bedside!)
The stories are loosely woven around the adventures of Maximillion the 4004th and Minimultiply the 5055th, two Thleegoden, an ancient breed of tiny fieldmice with very long tails who live in a wood near a village in Henforth (Herefordshire). They speak an ancient language called ‘Henforth sharad’ (based on Welsh) but only a few words are used. There are ten stories altogether, some involving Yuman Beans. In others, Max and Mini hardly feature. The first story, Max and Mini, sets the scene, describing the various animal characters and two Yumans, Mr and Mrs Smith-Smythe. The stories vary in length, taking some ten or fifteen minutes to read out loud. The vocabulary is deliberately wordy, using lots of alliteration, to give the children a taste of the richness and variety of English.
Max and Mini
Snowdrop Hats
Mighty Maclaren
Tuskeroara
The Mousemobile
Howly Owly
Besta Cresta
Mr Reynolds
High Flyers
Pegeddy Legeddy