My children don’t read this blog. So it’s safe to reveal here two of the presents they’ll be getting for Christmas: original framed illustrations from Judy Hayman’s Dragon Tales series. I published the sixth and last volume, The Dragons’ Call, in October, marking the end of two years of Dragon Tales. They began as bedtime stories for Phoebe, Judy’s first granddaughter, in around 2003, and over the years a growing band of grandchildren expanded, embroidered and illustrated the tales themselves, bringing the friendly adventurous dragons to life, and when I first set up my business in 2014 Quest for a Cave was one of the first books I pubilshed.
Some of my most enjoyable days since that time have been spent with Judy visiting schools, listening to her talk to the children about dragons, and writing, and where she gets her ideas (some child ALWAYS asks, ‘Where do you get your ideas?’) In one school, a 12-year-old boy raced after us as we were leaving and breathlessly showed the Ice Dragon he’d drawn in a fenzy of inspiration after her talk.
It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to publish these books, and I’m very proud to have some of Caroline Wolfe Murray’s original Dragons gracing our walls as reminders.
