Islands’ puffins inspire Guernsey-born author
A Guernsey-born author was inspired by seeing puffins when she was a child to write a book for youngsters that has just been published.
Hannah Friend, 39, lived in the island until the age of 13, when she moved to Australia with her family.
A qualified make-up artist who has worked with professional actors, she now lives in Perth with her four-year-old daughter, Charlotte, where she is a medical secretary.
It was coming up with stories for Charlotte that led to her deciding to try to get one published.
‘I’ve always written poetry and rhymes and short stories,’ she said.
‘I wrote my daughter a story for her first birthday and then I thought I’d try to get a book printed for her.’
Miss Friend joined an online writing group and wrote more stories. The group provided her with the opportunity to submit manuscripts to publishers.
The story of Peter Puffin had come to her one night and since it was her favourite she started sending it out.
After rejections in Australia she received offers from two publishers in the UK and went with Pegasus, which produces children’s books under its Nightingale imprint.
The story of a young puffin trying to catch his first fish is designed to encourage perseverance, she said.
‘Kids can have the first instinct to give up on something if they’re not very good at it first time.’
For the future, Miss Friend is considering another book starring Peter, but she also has a badger and a hedgehog character waiting in the wings.
‘Hedgehogs are one of my favourite animals,’ she said.
‘I used to visit the Hedgehog Rescue Centre in Guernsey with my grandmother.’
She still returns to the island to see family and friends and on her most recent trip found a puffin figurine which she now uses to represent Peter.
On her return to Australia the reaction to ‘Peter’ at the border indicated a lack of knowledge of that particular bird in the country.
‘I had to declare it at Customs because it’s wood,’ she said, ‘and the Customs guy said “Oh, it’s a toucan”.’
There are three species of puffin in the world, which are all found in the northern hemisphere. The Atlantic puffin is the one seen around the Channel Islands.
