Apologies for the lack of posts... and some news!

However, there will be more stories coming soon. In the meantime, I am excited to announce that we are working with an artist to get these stories illustrated and we look forward to sharing the illustrated versions with you soon!

 

Watch this space for more updates!

Victoria Leigh and the Man in the Moon

Credit: NASA

 

Victoria Leigh never liked going to bed.

“But Mummy, I want to play with my toys!” she would say.

But since Mummy had told her about the Wishing Tree and all the adventures she could have, Victoria Leigh found it much easier to go to bed.

That night, she snuggled under the duvet and watched her glow in the dark stars overhead. Then out of the darkness she heard a deep voice.

 

"Wake up Miss Victoria Leigh" it said.

 

Victoria Leigh sat bolt upright in bed and switched on her bedside light. She rubbed her eyes and peered at the end of her bed where all her toys sat. As she watched, Lemon Bear pushed his way to the front.

 

"Lemon Bear!" Victoria Leigh squealed with excitement. "I am so pleased to see you!"

 

Lemon Bear smiled at her.

 

"Just call me Bear, I never did like lemons" he said and winked.

 

"Are you here to take me to the Wishing Tree?" Victoria Leigh asked, she was so thrilled at the idea of another adventure she almost fell out of bed.

 

"If you would like to go." replied Bear in his deep smooth voice.

 

"Oh I would" gasped Victoria Leigh "lets go!"

 

"Take my paw then" said Bear and as Victoria Leigh did so, she was surrounded by beautiful swirling clouds in all different colours. Within seconds they landed in the field where the Wishing Tree stood. This time, the field was full of pink flowers. Victoria Leigh stared up at the Wishing Tree with its hundreds of green leaves and enormous thick twisted branches.

 

 

“Who has come to visit me” asked the Wishing Tree in a deep voice.

“Wishing Tree, Wishing Tree I bring Victoria Leigh to visit thee” said Bear in his equally deep voice.

“What is it you wish for Victoria Leigh?” boomed the Wishing Tree.

"Oh Wishing Tree, I have always wanted to go to the moon!" replied Victoria Leigh.

 

"DONE!" boomed the Wishing Tree , and suddenly there was a very loud engine noise.

Victoria Leigh and Bear turned around to see a huge red and gold rocket ship coming into land in the field. The ship had two big engines, and a long cabin with a circular window. The name on the side said 'Lightening Bolt'.  As they watched, a door in the side of the rocket ship opened and a stair case unfolded to the ground.

 

"Come on!" yelled Victoria Leigh, as she raced towards the rocket while Bear jogged along behind her.

 

The pair climbed into the cockpit and sat down in the two black leather chairs in front of the control panel. There were hundreds of dials and screens but only two buttons. One said 'Take off' and the other said 'Land'. After buckling themselves in, Victoria Leigh looked at Bear.

 

"Are you ready?" she said with a grin.

 

"Ready" said Bear.

 

Victoria Leigh pressed the button marked 'Take off'. There was an almighty roar and the whole rocket began to shake. Within seconds, they were off the ground and hurtling up into the sky.

 

"Woo hoo!" screamed Victoria Leigh looking over at Bear, but Bear had his eyes closed.

 

It felt like only ten minutes before the rocket was through the earth's atmosphere and out in space.

 

"Wow" breathed Victoria Leigh as they cruised over the earth.

 

She looked around and started to realise that they were slowing down, the rocket was going to land on the moon!

 

The rocket touched down on the surface of the moon and Victoria Leigh and Bear climbed down the staircase to the ground.

 

"I cant believe we are on the moon!" yelled Victoria Leigh, "but why is it so dirty?"

 

She looked down at her feet. On the ground there appeared to be a thick layer of dust. She leant down and swept some of the dust away with one finger. Underneath something sparkled, it looked like glass. As she swept away more dust, more of the clear surface of the moon was revealed. It was beautiful.

 

"I wonder what it's made from." She whispered.

 

"Oi!" 

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear turned to see an old man hobbling towards them. He was wearing overalls and had a dirty cloth sticking out of his pocket.

 

"Who are you?" the man barked at Victoria Leigh and Bear "and what are you doing on MY MOON!"

 

"We are very sorry" replied Victoria Leigh "we didn't know it was your moon, the rocket brought us here!" she pointed at the red and gold rocket standing a short distance away.

 

"Well clear off!" said the old man, " I don't like company." and he turned and started to hobble away.

 

"That was rude" said Bear.

 

"Excuse me!" called Victoria Leigh, chasing after the man. "Can I just ask, why is there all this dust on the moon and what is it made of?"

 

The old man looked at her suspiciously.

 

"The moon," he answered " is made from diamond! Everyone knows that!"

 

"and why are you here?" said Victoria Leigh,

 

The old man looked sad for a second.

 

"I am the man in the moon" he said, " it is my job to clean and polish the moon so that it shines as brightly as possible."

 

"but its covered in dust!" said Victoria Leigh.

 

"I know!" snapped the old man. "I stopped cleaning because nobody seemed to notice my hard work! Everyone is either asleep or too busy looking at the sun to notice the moon so I figured nobody would care if I stopped."

 

"Oh dear, " said Victoria Leigh, she looked thoughtful for a second "we care, if you like, we can help you clean the moon."

 

"No need, its too late for that. Besides, I don't have enough cloths for you anyway" said the old man, looking grumpy again.

 

"I am sure we can find something" said Victoria Leigh running to the rocket. She climbed inside and went into the cockpit. Behind the seats there was a large cupboard and inside there were lots of cleaning cloths and feather dusters. These must be to keep the rocket clean, she thought to herself. She grabbed 3 cloths and quickly scrambled out of the rocket.

 

"Here we are!" she said handing a cloth to the old man and one to Bear. " Now we can all help!"

 

For the first time, the old man smiled.

 

"Ok, but I warn you, its hard work!" he said.

 

The three cleaned and cleaned until every inch of the moon was a sparkling diamond again and all the dust was gone.

 

Victoria Leigh couldn't believe how beautiful it was.

 

"Thank you" said the old man. " I couldn't have done this by myself". He reached into his pocket and pulled out a sparkling rock and gave it to Victoria Leigh. "It's moon rock" he said. "It is  my way of saying thank you."

 

"It was our pleasure!" said Victoria Leigh " Now everyone will be able to see the moon shine and it will be just as bright as the sun!"

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear got back into the rocket and strapped themselves in.

 

"Ready to go home?" said Bear

 

"Ready" replied Victoria Leigh as she pushed the button marked 'Take off'. Before long they were flying through the air back towards Earth. They entered the atmosphere and soon Victoria Leigh was able to see the field with the pink flowers where the Wishing Tree stood. She pressed the 'Land' button, and the rocket slowed down before gently landing in the field.

 

Victoria Leigh and Bear climbed out.

 

"Time to go home" said Bear, taking Victoria's hand and once again she was surrounded by colourful swirling clouds before everything went dark.

 

Victoria Leigh was back in her bed and could see her glow in the dark stars on her ceiling. She sat up and then quickly got out of bed and went to the window. As she drew back the curtains, she looked up at the sparkling night sky and gasped. The moon was bigger and brighter than ever before, so bright that it too sparkled.

 

Victoria Leigh smiled and said "goodnight, man in the moon" before climbing back into bed.

 

"Good night Lemon Bear" she whispered as she snuggled down under the duvet and fell fast asleep.

 

 

 

 

Victoria Leigh and the missing pancakes

Victoria Leigh never used to like going to bed,

“But Mummy, I want to play with my toys!” she would say.

But since Mummy had told her about the Wishing Tree and all the adventures she could have, Victoria Leigh found it much easier to go to bed.

That night, she snuggled under the duvet and watched her glow in the dark stars overhead and then all of a sudden, she heard a very polite voice say:

“Good evening Miss Victoria”

Victoria Leigh sat up and leant forward to see who was speaking. All her toys were at the end of her bed, Daisy Dog, Rufus the Rabbit and Lemon Bear. Who had spoken?

All of a sudden Rufus Rabbit hopped forward.

He cleared his throat,

“Ahem, I said GOOD EVENING Miss Victoria!” he said again, he had an extremely posh accent

“Oh hello Rufus!” exclaimed Victoria Leigh “I didn’t see you there!”

“Would you like to visit the Wishing Tree?” asked Rufus

“Oh yes please” said Victoria Leigh

“Well, take my paw” said Rufus. Victoria Leigh held out her hand and grasped his paw and then they were flying through the air surrounded by beautiful colourful clouds, pink, yellow, blue, red and purple.

Within seconds they had landed in the big green field in front of the enormous Wishing Tree with its beautiful green leaves and hundreds of long twisted branches.

“Who has come to visit me” asked the Wishing Tree in a deep voice

“Wishing tree, wishing tree I bring Victoria Leigh to visit thee” said Rufus in his most polite voice.

“What is it you wish for Victoria Leigh” boomed the Wishing Tree

“Well, I have always thought it would be nice to go to Buckingham Palace and meet the Queen” said Victoria Leigh

“Done!” said the Wishing Tree and just then the field disappeared and Victoria Leigh and Rufus found themselves inside  Buckingham Palace . They were in a huge corridor with rich red carpet and big oil paintings on the walls and there were gold chandeliers everywhere.

“What do you mean you CANT FIND the pancakes!” 

The man’s loud voice came wafting up the stairs in front of Victoria Leigh and Rufus.

“HOW DO YOU LOSE PANCAKES?” he shouted again, he was clearly not happy.

“I am very sorry chef” replied what sounded like a young boy’s voice.

“You better sort this out Simpkins or your fired!” roared the other man and Victoria Leigh heard loud footsteps moving away followed by the SLAM of a door.

“Let’s go and investigate” whispered Victoria Leigh to Rufus

They tiptoed down the stairs and at the end there was a white door with a silver plaque on it that said KITCHEN.

Inside was the biggest kitchen Victoria Leigh had ever seen! It had long silver worktops, a HUGE silver fridge and lots of silver shelves stacked with jars of cooking ingredients with things like ‘Pepper’ and ‘Plain Flour’ written on them.  

Just then she heard a sniff from the corner of the room.

Victoria Leigh and Rufus tiptoed quietly over and peered around a big silver shelf. There, sitting on the floor, was a young boy in a white apron. His face was all red and blotchy and he was crying.

“What’s wrong?” asked Victoria Leigh

The boy looked up, “Who are you and what are you doing in here?” he asked.

“My name is Victoria Leigh and this is my friend Rufus” she said, pointing at the rabbit.

“You can’t be in here” said the boy looking over his shoulder with a frightened expression

“I am in enough trouble already today.”

“We heard a man shouting at you” said Victoria Leigh, “what happened?”

The boy hung his head. “The Queen loves to have pancakes for breakfast and I made her some. They were the best pancakes I had ever made. I left them on the counter while I went to go and get some maple syrup to go with them, but when I came back they were GONE!” he sniffed loudly.

“That’s terrible” said Victoria Leigh “Who took them?”

“I have no idea” sniffed the boy “but if I don’t find them soon the Chef says he will fire me!”

“We can’t let that happen!” said Victoria Leigh, “What’s your name?”

“Simpkins” said the boy, “Jimmy Simpkins”

“Well Jimmy, we will help you find those pancakes if it’s the last thing we do!” and both Victoria Leigh and Rufus gave a determined nod. The pair started prowling round the kitchen looking on every shelf and under every cupboard but no pancakes could be found.

“Oh dear” said Victoria Leigh a while later “I don’t know where they could be, we have looked everywhere!”

“Wait a minute” said Rufus, who was staring at the floor.

“What is it?” said Victoria Leigh

“I think I might have found something” replied Rufus and he began to hop away towards the door at the far end of the kitchen.

“Where are you going?” asked Jimmy

“Crumbs!” cried Rufus as he began to hop faster towards the door. “I see a trail of pancake crumbs!”

Rufus hopped and hopped while Victoria Leigh and Jimmy ran after him. They got to the door and Victoria Leigh slowly pushed it open and stepped through it into the garden.

She looked around, taking in the beautiful flowers and trees but she was interrupted by a loud munching sound. Behind the door, his mouth FULL of pancake was one of the Queen’s Corgi dogs!

“You stole the pancakes!”Victoria Leigh cried

The Corgi looked at her but kept on eating. “Well we won’t be able to give those ones to the Queen” she said to Rufus and Jimmy.

Jimmy looked sad, “then I will be fired” he said.

“No you won’t” replied Victoria Leigh, “I help my mum make pancakes all the time at home. We will help you!”

“You will?” said Jimmy, smiling a big smile

“Absolutely” said Rufus

The three set about mixing eggs, milk and flour into a batter and cooking up the best pancakes anyone had ever made. When they were finished Jimmy said, “I don’t know how to thank you”.

“Well”, replied Victoria Leigh “you could let me come with you to give them to the Queen”

“Of course!” said Jimmy.

They put the pancakes on a silver tray and walked upstairs to an enormous dining room with a huge long table in the centre, big enough to sit 100 people. Sitting at the table reading the newspaper was the Queen.

“Excuse me Ma’am” said Jimmy nervously “I have brought your morning pancakes”

The Queen looked up from the paper.

“Thank you” she said “Please come and put them here. Who is that you have brought with you?” she asked Jimmy.

“My name is Victoria Leigh” said Victoria Leigh in a clear voice “and I was just helping Jimmy with your pancakes.”

The Queen smiled, “ Oh really? Why was that?” she asked, so Victoria Leigh and Jimmy told the Queen all about the missing pancakes and how it was one of her Corgi’s who had taken them. The Queen thought it was all very funny.

Then Victoria Leigh and Rufus said goodbye to Jimmy and the Queen and walked outside Buckingham Palace into the garden.

“I am afraid it’s time to go already” said Rufus

“Oh no!” said Victoria Leigh, “I wanted to see the rest of Buckingham Palace. “ she said in a sad voice.

Never mind, she thought, at least I got to meet the Queen! She took Rufus’ paw in her hand and once again they were flying through beautiful coloured clouds and then all of a sudden, it was black.

Victoria Leigh was back in bed. She could feel her duvet, and she could see her glowing stars over her head.

When she looked at the end of her bed, there was Rufus sat with Daisy Dog and Lemon Bear just like before.

“Goodnight Rufus” she whispered before snuggling back under the covers and drifting off to sleep.

Victoria Leigh and the Wishing Tree

Victoria Leigh was a naughty girl, who never wanted to go to sleep.

"But Mummy!" she said, "I don't want to go to sleep, it is far too much fun playing with my toys."

"Victoria Leigh" said Mummy sternly, "You must go to sleep, otherwise, think of all the adventures you will miss."

 "Adventures?" said Victoria Leigh, looking confused. "What adventures?"

"Only when you sleep can you visit the magical Wishing Tree" said Mummy with a smile. "The tree will grant you one wish per night and it can be anything you want." said Mummy

 "Wow!" said Victoria Leigh, "and I can wish for anything I want?"

 "Anything", replied Mummy "now close your eyes, and go to sleep."  

 "But Mummy, how will I find the wishing tree?" said Victoria Leigh, as she yawned and snuggled down under her purple duvet.

"Don't worry, your friends will guide you" said Mummy as she left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Victoria Leigh lay in the dark, staring at the glowing stars she had stuck on her bedroom ceiling. She really wanted to find the Wishing Tree, but she didn't know how to get there.

Suddenly, she heard a sing-song voice in the dark.

"Hello Victoria Leigh!"

Victoria Leigh, switched on her night light and peered at the foot of her bed. She stared at her soft toys, they were all there. Rufus the rabbit, Daisy Dog and Lemon bear (so called for his pale yellow fur). All of sudden, Daisy Dog started to move! She stepped forward on Victoria's bed.

"Hi!" Daisy waved her paw frantically.

Victoria Leigh couldn't believe what she was seeing!

 "Daisy Dog?" she said, finding her voice.

 "Yes" said Daisy "I am here to take you to the Wishing Tree! It can only be found with the help of very special toys like me. Take my paw".

Victoria Leigh stretched out her hand and grasped Daisy Dog's paw. Then they were flying, surrounded by hundreds of different coloured clouds. Red, purple, pink, blue and yellow clouds swirled all around them until suddenly, it was daylight and Victoria Leigh found herself in a big field full of purple flowers.

 In front of her was a huge tree, with enormous branches stretching high into the sky and out to the sides. It had millions of thick green leaves, and the branches looked perfect for climbing.

"We are here!" said Daisy. She walked forward to a big knot hole on the trunk of the tree and pressed it.

Suddenly the tree began to shake, its branches waved and Victoria Leigh was covered in green leaves.

"Who has come to visit me?" said a rather deep voice.

 "Wishing tree, Wishing Tree I bring a friend to visit thee" said Daisy in a very clear voice.

 "Who is your friend?" replied the Wishing Tree, and Victoria Leigh could now see two eyes had opened on its trunk and some of its bark had twisted to look like a mouth.

 "This is Victoria Leigh" said Daisy, "she is a special friend and would like a wish."

 Victoria Leigh was worried, now she was here she hadn't thought about what she wanted to wish for!

 "If you can’t think of what to wish for”, said Daisy, noticing how worried Victoria Leigh looked “think of something simple, something that you like”.

 "What is it you wish for Victoria Leigh?" boomed the Wishing Tree

"Erm, I would like a tea party, with lots of presents, and chocolate cake, and sausage rolls, and crisps and fizzy drinks and the chocolate cake needs to be so big that I can take it home and have chocolate cake whenever I like." she said

"Hmmmm, said the Wishing Tree thoughtfully " I will see what I can do, close your eyes."

Victoria Leigh closed her eyes and then opened them 10 seconds later (she wasn't very patient).

In front of her was a huge table covered in lots of yummy food, sweets, fizzy drinks and a big chocolate cake with her name on it. There was also a bouncy castle for her and Daisy to play on and water pistols to play with.

"This is brilliant!" cried Victoria Leigh bouncing high on the bouncy castle.

"It’s the best party ever!" said Daisy tucking into the sausage rolls on the table.

Daisy and Victoria Leigh had a fabulous afternoon eating all the food and bouncing on the bouncy castle in the field. When the sun got too hot, they picked up the water pistols and had a huge water fight!

"This has been the best day ever" said Victoria Leigh, sitting down at the table as the sun was starting to go down.

"There is one last surprise for you" said Daisy, and she pulled out a white box with a blue ribbon. Inside was a small green plant in a brown pot.

"What's this?" said Victoria Leigh.

"Its a chocolate cake flower plant!" said Daisy looking very happy "when the flower comes out it is made of chocolate cake. It will flower at least once a week so you can have chocolate cake whenever you like!"

Victoria Leigh was so excited, she gave Daisy a big hug "thank you Daisy Dog" she said.

"Now, we must be going" said Daisy. "Take my paw again."

All at once they were surrounded by colourful clouds and then it went dark. Victoria Leigh could feel her bed underneath her, and her pillow. She was home.

She sat up and looked at the end of her bed, Daisy Dog was there with her other toys.

"Goodnight Daisy Dog, and thank you for taking me to the Wishing Tree" she said, but Daisy did not reply.

Victoria Leigh hid the chocolate cake flower under her bed for safe keeping and snuggled down under the duvet. She couldn't wait to go to sleep tomorrow night so that she could make more wishes and have more adventures.