“I think everyone could do with a bit of Who-bell in their life to be honest!” comments Carli while sitting with us creating crepe paper bluebells for the ‘Who-bell’ window takeover...

The Tale of Who-bell tells the story of Who-bell, a bluebell, who is saddened to see that she’s not blue and the same as her friends. It takes a visit from Bertie the bee for her to realise that being unique is exactly what makes her special.

It’s Carli’s first-ever children’s book and a creative project that was inspired by our lovely town of Leighton Buzzard.

“The idea came to me after walking in Linslade Woods while the bluebells were in full bloom last year with my family. It’s such a magical place! We spotted a small pink bluebell, and that’s what sparked my brain. Over the next few weeks, ideas kept coming into my mind about what the story could be about and how it could play out. One evening, I sat down and just typed and typed - ‘Who-bell’ was created!”

When it came to illustrations, Carli turned to a friend and work colleague to create the characters and make her vision a reality.

“I’m extremely lucky that I work with a very talented creative, Ellena Reece. When I told her about the book and that I was looking for someone to help illustrate it, she jumped at the chance and brought the characters to life. It’s been amazing to work with her on the project. We’ve been squeezing in ‘Who-bell’ meetings during our lunch hours and she did a great job at translating my rough sketches into cute characters.”

Originally, Carli’s plan wasn’t to have the book published but just to have a few copies printed off for her son and family.

“After telling a few people about the book, many of them had asked where they could buy it. It was when my son actively asked me to read it to him one evening that I thought I might be onto something. Although the real turning point was the lovely Sarah and Carrie at Happydashery being so supportive and making my dream a reality by offering to sell it and host the launch!”

With no previous experience of writing or launching a book, Carli’s been venturing out of her comfort zone.

“This project has been a steep learning curve as I’ve never done anything like this before, but I’ve enjoyed it. Yes, of course, I’ve made mistakes along the way, and there are things I’d do differently, but that’s life.

“Like so many parents, we spend our lives telling our children that that’s nothing they can’t do and they should ‘give it a go’, but this has been a real life example of that for me and most importantly my little boy.”

Join us for the launch of ‘The Tale of Who-bell’ on Saturday 26th April, between 2-5pm to check out the book and grab a free ‘Who-bell’ colouring sheet.

Carli will also be doing a reading of the book at Leighton Buzzard library on 10th May during its monthly storytime, so head down and have a listen!