15th January 2024
At a visit to Hanbury CE First School today, James Davison revealed he knew exactly what to write in his book, Mindy’s Journey well before putting pen to paper!
The Wolverhampton-based author and computer games designer initially thought the story would end up as the theme for one of his digital creations, but after a while he realized that it had the potential to empower children and adults alike in paperback form.
Mindy’s Journey tells the tale of a girl who struggles to deal with her emotions after receiving some bad news. At her lowest point, she teams up with a star to find a way out of the situation.
James has faced his own personal challenges; he is neurodiverse and was diagnosed as having Tourettes when he was 18.
During a special and very inspirational Worship, James told the children all about himself and the way he hopes to help others by encouraging them to talk about differences, struggles and coping strategies.
He also explained that a love of music helped him along the way:
“I ended up treating the story like a song, going over and over it in my head, changing it countless times and developing it as I took my children to and from nursery!”
After reading his book aloud today, James had lots of advice for his audience of young authors:
“If you can keep building a wide vocabulary, then that’s really useful when you are creating your own stories,” he said, adding that he has developed an appreciation for reading which helps when putting his ideas and messages onto the pages of his own books.
“We all really enjoyed meeting James today,” said Hanbury Reading Coordinator, Verity Mills.
“We’re grateful that he could come and answer our questions on what it’s like to be an author. There’s nothing like hearing from someone who has first-hand experience of writing wonderful stories like Mindy’s Journey.
“We want to develop a life-long love of reading and storytelling here at Hanbury,” she added. “The positive message within his book, combined with James’ real-life story was truly inspirational!”
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