Monty and the Ocean Rescue
The new book was released on April 1st 2019 and so far we have shipped over 200 of the pre orders to customers around the world. This is always a really exciting time as we wait for the feedback and thankfully so far it has been really positive.
There have been lots of comments about how current the topic is and that the timing is very good. Well to be honest this book was planned around 12 months ago but it needed to wait behind the Christmas book for obvious reasons. It's been really interesting to see the issue of plastic pollution grow in recent months and I guess this can only be a positive thing.
My aim with this book was to try and tackle what is a really serious and pretty frightening topic in a way that it can be delivered to young children without coming across as preachy or overwhelming. It was also an aim to link with organisations who are doing really great work in this area so children can get more info and hopefully more involved.
This has been done by a link at the back of the book to our website where we've set up pages for those organisations that want engage with the young people we visit through our free school's programme.
From day one I also knew I wanted to include David Attenborough in the book as he has been so instrumental in not only introducing so many people to the beauty of the natural world, but also now at the forefront of highlighting the issues caused by humans.
I knew I needed to ask him if that was ok and it was pretty nerve-wracking when I send a copy of the text to his production company to hopefully get the green light. I fully expected it would be ok, and that I would get a standard reply from a member of staff in due course. Well you can imagine my reaction when less than a week later I had a handwritten letter from the great man himself.
He said that he was flattered to be included in the book and wished me good luck with it. I don't think I've ever had my estimation of somebody so totally reinforced as when I opened that envelope. For him to say he was flattered to be included in a book by somebody so insignificant in the literary world was truly awesome and a real measure of the man.
The book thankfully has been really well received and looks on course to become our bestseller as sales are the fastest we've had so far. As always it's down to the amazing support we get from our friends, family and followers around the world and we are truly feeling the love.
Thank you