A brand new children’s picture book about a real horse called Dave!
At the end of April 2020, Lois Kingscott published her first children’s picture book called Dave and Darcy Go to the Beach! The story follows Dave the horse and his best friend – a little girl called Darcy – as they go on their summer holidays, making friends and memories by the sea, and running into a few problems along the way!
The book was inspired by Lois’ real horse, Dave, who she loans to local charity Cotswold Riding for the Disabled and has home in the holidays. Due to the current lockdown, Dave and his friend Gaelen are enjoying an extended holiday in their field below Timbercombe woods, so walkers in Charlton Kings may have spotted them during their daily exercise!
Lois had the idea of writing a children’s book 18 months ago, but it wasn’t until last year when Dave spent several weeks in an equine hospital that she started writing the first book. After lots of tests, scans and an operation, the vets found a blood clot in Dave’s hoof, which is extremely rare. It was a stressful time for Lois, her family and the team at Cotswold RDA, but luckily Dave has fully recovered and had returned to the RDA before lockdown began.
It was last year’s ordeal that gave Lois the motivation she needed to start writing her books. Dave’s wonderful, goofy personality has provided great inspiration and she hopes other families will fall in love with him as much as she has!
The illustrations were drawn by Laura Nicklin, who is a fellow contributor for The Local Answer magazine. Lois asked her to have a go at drawing a horse in her lovely style of line drawing and was thrilled with the outcome. She has had great feedback on the book so far, with many happy customers saying how much they love the drawings and one little girl in disbelief that Dave is actually a real horse!
The book is available to purchase on Lois’ website – http://www.loiskingscottauthor.com/shop – for £6.99 and she hopes to attend local events once things are back to normal.
In a lovely gesture, a percentage of the profits from her first book will be donated to Cotswold Riding for the Disabled, which she hopes will help to get them back on their feet once they re-open after the Coronavirus lockdown.
The talented author already has ideas for three more books to create a ‘Dave and Darcy’ series, including one about a pony show and another for Dave’s birthday party. You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram or sign up to her e-newsletter via the website to keep up to date with her latest book news, as well as regular updates about Dave the horse. Can’t wait to follow his adventures and see what he gets up to next!
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