loving life in my 50s

My Mummy Is a Monster children’s book helps young families struggling during lockdown & beyond

Life during lockdown in the UK means many families have been spending far more time together than in our pre-pandemic world. Every family has its own unique way of coping but as we go into our third month of ‘containment’, patience and tolerance is no doubt being tested across the country on a regular basis.

Children’s author Natalie Reeves Billing has just released a book for young children and their families, called My Mummy is a Monster/My Children are Monsters – and right now could be the perfect time to read it.

There are two sides to every story

Entertaining and light-hearted, this book shows children (and maybe reminds adults) there are two sides to every story, so even when we may feel like our children are monsters and vice versa, we can all understand a little more why this could be the case.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Natalie about her writing and life in general. This ‘Liverpool lass’ has a treasure trove of stories to write about, thanks to her vivid imagination and the extraordinary life she has led and continues to lead.

Natalie always knew she wanted to write and has been writing in one form or another since she was in primary school, starting with writing competitions. “For years I constantly worked at being a better writer and I would lock myself in my bedroom and disappear into my imaginary worlds and write about them,” she says.

Natalie found her voice; not only in her poetry and song writing but also as a singer

As a student, Natalie found her voice; not only in her poetry and song writing but also as a singer, fronting a band. Remarkably, the band was offered a record deal in Los Angeles and they moved to the US, spending several years touring the country.

Just as the album was about to be released, the record company went bankrupt, smashing their hopes and dreams, and putting a sudden end to their exciting plans. Natalie, like the rest of the band, was devastated, and the band soon split up. Living back in the UK, Natalie went solo for a while but says her heart was a little broken and she needed to do something else for a while.

It had not been the performing which had filled her up; it was the song writing

In time, she realised it had not been the performing which had filled her up; it was the song writing. “Music and creativity have been such an important part of my journey to writing children’s books – and songs are small stories. Ever since I had my children, I have been making up stories for them and because I seem to have a gift for rhyming and I have been doing it so long, my stories tend to come across in rhyme rather than in any other format,” says Natalie.

Almost three years ago, her daughter told her school teacher about some of the stories Natalie had made up. The teacher immediately suggested Natalie write them down; and nervously she did. It quickly became evident she had a deep need to write these stories and since then, Natalie has written hundreds which she can choose to work on for her Monstrous Me series of children’s picture books which she is developing.

“I realised I wanted to concentrate on light-hearted, beautiful and innocent interactions like when you are a child and discover for the first time how things work and that everything is possible,” says Natalie. “I want to go to that space at this point in my life and for the moment, focus on children’s picture books.”

Working on her next book in the series

Already Natalie is working on her next book in the series, to be released in the next four months. She is also working on a pilot scheme called ‘Gifted with Love’ which is part of her social enterprise ‘Split Perspectivz’.

And with partial lockdown still in place, what has Natalie and her family been doing? Always one to embrace the ‘inner child’, she has spent many days with her husband and children watching YouTube videos to learn about soil, rocks and crops and then venturing into their ancient fields with shovels and picks to dig into the earth, sometimes as far as seven feet down. (Natalie says she has never been so fit!)

In true fairy tale fashion, they have discovered old pots, a small dagger (see photograph above) and what is, very possibly, a Roman road. An archaeologist has been to look at their findings and further excavations are now planned. Who knows what else they may find? I can feel another book coming on …

Natalie’s latest book, “My Mummy Is A Monster” is available in paperback, eBook and as a limited edition hardback book from here. Outside the UK, go to your local Amazon online store.

It’s a great gift for the grandkids too!

For more details on Natalie Reeves Billing, click here.