Meet the Preston teaching assistant inspiring children with her first ever book
A long-serving staff member at a Preston primary school is inspiring her pupils and children all across the city with the release of her first book.
Mary Brown, who has been a teaching assistant at Moor Nook Community Primary School for 17 years, recently published her first ever book, ‘Mrs Brown and Friends The Morning Rush’ and has been blown away by its reception.
The book tells the story of all the ‘garden residents’ that visit Mary’s garden in Ribbleton- the mum of three having penned the idea during lockdown- with the message being all about kindness and acceptance.
Explaining how she came to publish her first book, 54-year-old Mary said: “It’s all because of the children from my last year 2 class, who are now in year three. They inspired me to write the book because I had the story for a very long time in my head, on my phone, in the notes, and I used to tell them little snippets here and there, but they wanted more and more. They were that invested, they wanted to see characters and they wanted to see it in a book.
“So I thought last year, when I finished for the summer holidays, I'll contact a few people. I didn't know anyone in the industry or what I was doing but I thought ‘I'll get a book together'. And the more people that I told, they all said ‘I'll have a copy’, ‘I'll have a copy’ and I thought ‘oh, right. people are liking this little story that I keep telling’, and then that it just went from there, really.”
On her journey trying to get her story published, Mary said she found it hard to get any representation in the North of England, most of the publishing houses being down south.
Thankfully she found a fan in Edinburgh based Ruby Allen-Cadman, founder of the publishing support service To Be Read, who helped mentor her along the way.
Spurred on by Ruby’s encouragement, Mary set up her own publishing house, hiring an illustrator, a graphic designer and working with Longton firm Talbot Print Services.
At last, Mary self-published ‘Mrs Brown and Friends The Morning Rush’ earlier this year and her book launch took place at The Harris on Saturday, January 31, thanks to support from her local councillor, Pat Varty.
The soon to be grandma was amazed that the book sold out both days it was on display at the Harris that weekend, and since then numbers have gradually been growing thanks to word of mouth which Mary says she is “chuffed” about.
Mary told the Post: “It's just a beautiful book. The finished product is lovely and I know that because when people are buying it, when children are reading it, I've had so many reviews back on my page, inboxes and videos of children reading it - hundreds, because over 300 have sold. It's in Singapore. It's going to America in April. It's going to Australia, because my sister in law is immigrating and taking a copy to donate to a local primary school. So it's going international!
“The local community, especially my school community, have got behind me so much. No matter what I put out there, like, I've got bookmarks, pens now because I'm trying to build a brand, they'll just inbox me, the people that have bought my book, they're buying it all. I've got a good few events coming up, schools have asked for me, I've even had to drop a day at school because I'm going around promoting my book.”
Her biggest supporters have of course been the pupils at Moor Nook Primary School, and Mary says she was delighted when on World Book Day this month, eight different children turned up as herself or characters from the book.
“I loved that, it was amazing. Parents had me outside taking pictures with them all”, she added.
In total the book cost her around £1000 to publish - “I needed it to be of good quality” Mary explained- and she is currently just aiming to get to 500 sales to break even so she can go on and publish the two other books she has planned.
Mary, who has also donated books to RPH’s children ward said: “It wasn't about the money. It was about, because I’ve worked in this school for 17 years, showing the children that anything is possible. Everything is possible if you just put your mind to it.
“And it's also saying ‘Look, I've connected with wildlife. You can go into the park. You can go in your garden, see what you can hear, see. Have you got a Rocky the robin in yours? Have you got a Cyril the squirrel in yours? You'll have Percy and Polly, the pigeons’ and they've really, really, absolutely engaged in it. They love it. They talk to me every day about it, all different children stop me in the corridor and say ‘we read it every night’. I'm like ‘wow, you're reading it again. You've had it week’ and they’re like ‘Yeah. I love it Mrs. Brown.’ So you know that, to me, that is priceless.”
If you are interested in purchasing Mrs Brown and Friends The Morning Rush, you can contact Mary on her social media page here.
Mary is also holding various book events over the next few weeks including at Garstang Library on Saturday March 28; Catforth Village Hall Easter Fair on Friday, April 3; Billington Lodge Easter Fair on Saturday, April 4 and Grimsargh Farmers Market on Saturday, April 18.