Tails of Two Spaniels by Heather Peck - Illustrated by Helen Morrish - #BookReview #blogtour

 

Farmer Fred had lost his dog. Scratchy Patch had one white patch over one eye and one brown patch over the other eye. She also had long soft ears and the waggiest tail you ever saw. If you talked to her, she wagged her tails a lot. But if she didn't understand what you said, she sat down and scratched while she thought very hard. Patch normally spend most of her time with Fred, checking round the hens, being polite to the geese, and chasing the rats. But today she had gone missing...

***

Springer Spaniel Patch has four puppies on the farm where she lives with Marigold the House Cow, Gertie Goose, Sally-for-short the Sow, and lots of worried woollies. But the puppies can't stay forever and they have a lot to learn.

A story of the antics of puppies, told from the puppies' perspective and brought to life by charming illustrations.

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This utterly charming book was a delight to read. It has been nicely illustrated by Helen Morrish and will appeal to any reader who likes stories about animals.

There is some useful information contained within the story about how to care for a pet dog and the committment it needs. I loved the way the majority of the book was told from the perspective of the two puppies, Bramble and Bracken, who leave the farm to go to their 'forever home', and it was interesting to envisage the world through their eyes.

This book has been categorised as being suitable for nine to eleven year olds. However, I think more able readers would equally enjoy this too. It is also ideal for sharing with younger children. Indeed, my childhood is a long time behind me but I very much enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading it to the younger members of my family. 

ISBN: 978 1915769091

Publisher: Ormesby Publishing

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  68 (paperback)

About the Author:

Heather's love of animals set her to achieve a degree in Zoology and Comparative Physiology and later a wide ranging career in the Ministry of Agriculture and Defra. She has been both a farmer and agricultural policy adviser. She bred sheep and alpacas, reared calves, broke ploughs, represented the UK in international negotiations, specialised in emergency response from Chernobyl to bird flu, managed controls over pesticides and GM crops, saw legislation through Parliament and got paid to eat Kit Kats while on secondment to Rowntree.

 She also chaired an NHS Trust, worked on animal welfare, sailed a boat on the Broads, volunteered in Citizens Advice and the Witness Service and vaccinated humans against Covid. But she never lost the love of books and writing, and in the end with her Gran’s wise advice “You can do anything if you try hard enough” ringing in her head, she took a course at the UEA/National Centre for Writing and wrote her first book.

Now, there are 4 books and a novella in the Greg Geldard Norfolk Mystery series and book 5 Dig Two Graves will be published in July 2023. A second novella, Death on the Norwich Express, is currently being serialised in her free Newsletter. 

​In May 2023 she also published her first children's book, Tails of Two Spaniels illustrated by the talented Helen Morrish.

About the Illustrator:

After the sudden death of her husband at 46, and realising with a jolt that life really was too short, Helen left her job as an art director to pursue a long-held dream of becoming an artist. To help her through her grief, she spent five minutes every day drawing their beloved dog, Rupert, and these are the illustrations that have evolved into her debut book.

In the late 1980s Helen moved to London from Hampshire to go to Art College, eventually settling in South London. 

She’s an active member of her community, and helped bring an Everyman Cinema to the area, well in fact to the back of her garden! 

She spends a lot of time in there.

In 2020 during the pandemic, Helen was asked to present her local Art and Music Festival, interviewing authors, artists and performers on it’s very own YouTube channel. Her favourite guests were comedian Marcus Brigstocke and musician Jim Bob from the band Carter USM. 

She used to dance to them at the indie disco many years ago!

Helen also takes part in a monthly open mike comedy show. She and her fellow comics write material about the week’s news in the afternoon, and perform it to an audience in the evening. 

When she’s not working on her next book or writing comedy, Helen runs her creative company Lady Crimplene, illustrating everything from local maps to designing a TV pitch for Netflix. She also sells her retro clothes and collectibles from her shop, well her front bedroom, and in the Summer, turns her garden into a department store! 

(book provided courtesy of Random Things Tours)

(author photo and bio. courtesy of the authors website heatherpeckauthor.com)

(illustrator photo and bio. courtesy of her website https://www.helenmorrish.co.uk)