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Risca primary pupil publishes book during lockdown

Posted on : 19 Feb 2021

Risca primary pupil publishes book during lockdown
An eight-year-old boy from the Caerphilly county borough has written a book about his two pet cats during lockdown.

Joseph Smith, a pupil from Risca Primary School, kept himself busy during lockdown by telling stories all about what he imagined his two pet cats, Chester and Jeff, would get up to at night when he and his family were asleep.

Joseph would spend hours with his family talking about these imagined cat adventures. With help from his Mum, he wrote down these stories, and they decided that they wanted to share this positivity with other families by putting them in a book, “The Amazing Night-Time Adventures of Chester and Jeff”.

The family found an illustrator, Mariia Luzina, who captured the two cats brilliantly with vibrant colours, and the book was printed and brought to life.

Joseph’s Dad helped set up a website, so they could tell the world about his book and make it available for people to buy and share the cat adventures with their families. Alongside the book, Chester and Jeff’s cat adventures have been brought to life through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, with Josephs mum helping upload daily photos to brighten people’s day.

Councillor Ross Whiting, Cabinet Member for Learning and Achievement, said: “For many of us, lockdown has been challenging. Well done to Joseph for using it as a positive opportunity to make others smile. I look forward to reading about Chester and Jeff’s adventures and I think many others will too.”

Joseph’s mum, Emma Smith, said: “Joseph’s way of distracting himself from missing his friends and wider family would be to tell stories all about what he imagined his two pet cats, Chester and Jeff, would get up to at night when we were all asleep. Turning his imaginations into something solid created an enjoyable project for the whole household to focus on during a time when everything else was so uncertain. I’m so proud of you Joseph.”

Joseph Smith added: “We had so much fun making the book so wanted to share it with everyone. I’m already having ideas for a Christmas cat adventure!”

The Amazing Night-Time Adventures of Chester and Jeff can be purchased here.

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