The Wildly Whimsical Tales of Gracie and Sniggles by Teressa Hill

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Teressa Hill has in my opinion led a unputdownable, beguiling and possibly colourful life so far, a life that started in Oregon in the USA. As a young child she loved the outdoor life riding her horse with her dog close at hand. Her love of animals has continued throughout her whole life hence all the animals in her books. But her love of nature wasn’t the only passion in her existence and like other close members of her family she pursued a sport, her piece de resistance was competitive figure skating which gave her the opportunity to see the world. In quieter times she would write short stories and sketch, and over time she became a cultivated artist in her own right selling many of her paintings.

As we all know the career of a professional sports person is short lived and it was in the early eighties, she started to train to become a hairstylist, she now works on Hollywood’s film and television sets as a hairstylist working with some of the industries world renowned directors, producers and actors. Her work in this field has given her many opportunities and she is currently short-listed for an Oscar nomination this year.

In 2005 she created the idea of writing a children’s animated series of books which has now developed into The Wildly Whimsical Tales of Gracie and Sniggles.In this podcast we’re going to concentrate on two of the books in the series the first book THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOO and the next in the series BOO WHO? Both books have been beautifully illustrated by Teressa’s partner Karine Makartichan.

THE MYSTERY OF THE BLUE GOO

This is the story of a little red curly-haired girl call Gracie, and her dog Sniggles who have left the city for the neighbouring outskirts. They embark on a whimsical adventure as they set out to explore their new surroundings. On their journey they meet up with Lucy the purring cat. Ziggy the zinging Squirrel, Bob the crow and Bumble the bee who’s upset because on his adventures away from the hive he’s managed to get himself covered in blue goo, and the Queen Bee won’t let him back in the hive as she only has yellow bees in her hive. The new friends follow the clues to the blue goo and discover how they can return Bumble back to becoming a yellow bee.

This enchanting little story also reminds us of the importance of kindness, acceptance and friendship.

BOO WHO?

This story is a magical adventure of Gracie a clever girl and her menagerie of friends from the previous book. The new friend is Boo Montague a fearful little ghost at the Hocus Pocus Pumpkin Patch. Boo is a cheerful ghost not spiteful and scary as the other ghosts who shun him for being so nice. Gracie invites Boo to the Halloween party. But Sully the snail who delivers the mail arrives with a letter to say that Halloween has been cancelled. With the help of Mr Finklestein, the retired wizard the group of friends set about saving Halloween.

These are magical books which kids aged 4-8 depending on their reading ability are going to love.