Books

“Dad why don’t you write a book for Ivy’s 5th birthday?” Asked my eldest son in front of my only grandchild during one of our lengthy avid reading sessions. Spot the reason I did not stop at one book? I now have 4 grandchildren.

The 4 x KS 1, 5-7 years, Mat Alan series manuscripts are complete for each grandchild. As testament to my enjoyment of the process of producing the picture book I have also produced 12 x KS 2, 7-12 years, Mr Healthy manuscripts.

During lockdown I zoomed 3 illustrators to bring Mat Alan to life. I was quoted £32K for the project, a tad expensive for a birthday present I felt…

Enter Paul Cooper in his illustrator era

I started with Copic pens then discovered the power of technology. Now, after a crash college course I truly enjoy developing the characters in a quite unique fashion. I have been genuinely
stunned by the feedback and the fact it takes me 4 months to illustrate 1 book . This puts me on a guesstimated £00.1 per hour as an illustrator. And so the books were born and equally surprising, I am having great fun with them.

Each tale deals with physical, mental and nutritional life skills. The tale is based around a recipe, a related food science experiment and as with all good tales, contains a moral. The tales are designed to be educational, interactive and fun, sending out the correct healthy messages. Whenever asked how long does it take to write 1 book I respond “A whole career and lifetime.” I hope my passion for food, healthy lifestyles and educating primary school children comes through in the books. I finally hope you have the same enjoyment as I have had in writing and illustrating each book.

Wishing you and your junior chef a wild and wonderful read,

Paul.