An educational title – a small book in a series of books for emergent readers by Era called Magic Bean.
Based on the fact that the youngest of my three sons, Henry, seemed to have some unusual interests and talents, like tap dancing, this story was meant to convey a confidence in yourself, so as to make happy choice of career based on what you’re good at.
Unfortunately the illustrator totally changed my positive text into a negative one, as well as making the character a hopeless and messy kid! Not at all what I had in mind.
When it was published in 1997 I was really upset, but it was a lesson for me: I learnt that when you write a story you have no control over how the illustrator and publisher handle it! They often don’t ask your opinion!
Even so, four to six year olds still enjoy the story – it’s just not quite the one I wrote!