Bucket and The Deep Blue Sea

This is a contemporary fantasy tale about three good friends and their desire to do something extraordinary.

Sprig, the dormouse and her best friend, Whisker - or Whisk - the rat, team up with the self-important jackdaw, Scram, to embark on a perilous adventure: they will turn an old bucket into a sailing boat, navigate the river Whip and sail the sea ... in a bucket-boat!

I got the idea to write this book due to my little boy, Brad. In lockdown I took him to have an operation to have his tonsils and adenoids removed; this resulted in him being given a mixture of fentanyl and morphine. The knock-on effect of this, was some peculiar strangeness - primarily an unprompted song about something to do with going to sea on a bucket ...

He sang this song (for reasons unknown, even to him) over the next couple of days, repeatedly. It got to the point that I could only reasonably assume that the operation had turned him into a permanent oddball, stuck in an endless loop, forever parroting this ridiculous - but admittedly catchy, nonsensical song - for the rest of his days.

Fortunately, he somehow shook off this curse and went somewhat back to normal. The song was stuck in my head though; this is what gave me the idea to write this little story, about some small creatures who go to sea on a bucket ...

:) Thanks Brad (Aged 4), for your excellent front cover illustration! :)