Although the exact number of people who have bought all three "Leah" books is unknown, of course, this photo is the first one I have been sent with someone holding all three books in one shot - and all for non-uniform day to celebrate World Book Day 2017. I'm reliably informed that 9 year old Izzy, "has decided they will be presents for her footballing friends next birthdays!" "She really does love the books and started reading from number one. She said she wants to think of ideas for the next one!" I now know where to turn then if I get writer's block.
After much planning, head scratching and scrawling on bits of paper, I've decided to continue the Leah series with a fourth book. Rough drafts were made last July on a sunny day in Shrewsbury, watching a football tournament and over the Christmas holidays from work, the story began to take shape. Now, almost 12,000 words of the fourth Leah story have currently been typed into the computer :) The working title is "Leah and the New Generation" and continues Leah's footballing journey. So, "Leah and the Final Whistle?" won't be the final instalment of Leah Helmshore. Delighted to announce this on this website for "World Book Day 2017"
As ever, World Book Day fills me with great excitement. It's a day where a lot of children think about books when they normally might not do so. Schools up and down the country have non-uniform days and last year I knew of a few children who went to their school dressed as Leah and took along their copy of the Leah books. Yesterday on Facebook, I got this status tag from a parent of a very keen fan of my books. This makes it all worthwhile and gives me that incentive to write "Leah 4" - even if I know there's only a handful of fans at the moment, it's worth it. #priceless
