Jill’s new book, The Mind’s Eye, is intended to be read by an adult to a small child. Without illustrations, it allows the child to use his or her own imagination as the story is read, and to react to it.
The Mind’s Eye has received an enthusiastic review from Dr Nicola Bailey, an educationalist who specialises in parenting and family support:
“My daughter and I loved the stories, as did her three-year-old son! The link with a well-known nursery rhyme (Hey Diddle Diddle) works well and provokes food for thought about others – mother and son have since discussed other nursery rhymes. My grandson did want to go back to an illustration of the rhyme, but was happy to be picture-free otherwise.
The action / adrenalin parts of the tales were well received and he talked about them in the following days. The stories also generated a lot of conversation around reality and possibility and imagination: his current favourite word is ‘maybe’!
For the younger market, the stories are long and parents may need to talk about the previous content before resuming the narration, but the chapter lengths were great!
Overall, a great book, a super good read and a lock into magical imaginary moments.”
There are three separate stories, each of about thirty thousand words divided into short chapters. Jill has written blog posts about the stories and children’s reaction to them.
About the first story Sam and the Moon Dog
The second story is Charlotte and the Dandelion Fairy
See also Jill’s blog post on The joy of reading to a child