An ’accidental author’ and his sidekick illustrator have unveiled the first in a series of colourful kids' bedtime books.

Rob Cowley and 16-year-old Karmen St John-Cain released ’Pink: The Adventures of a Manx Fairy’ at the Family Library on Saturday.

The story is based around the adventures of a young girl called Anais and a pink Manx fairy called Jasmine.

The story was inspired by the recent lockdown and the effects of grandparents being separated from their families for a long period of time.

’My wife, Mercy, and her granddaughter Anastasia have really missed each other during the lockdown,' said Rob.

’I even came across them one day crying on a video chat one day, so it has been quite a sad situation.

’However, it sparked a thought in my head about taking a fairy over to make Anastasia happy.

’I then wrote this lovely bedtime story about a fairy called Jasmine going across and having a magical adventure together.

’I hope that this book will resonate and mean a lot to people.

’I do think that grandparents and grandchildren who may have missed each other terribly over the lockdown.

’We all know how quickly children grow and, if you have missed birthdays and Christmases because of the last year and a half, it becomes quite difficult, especially if you are close.’

This is the second book Rob has produced with illustrator Karmen, after No Entry, released in 2019.

Karmen has Aspergers and began to illustrate Rob’s stories which gave her a boost in self confidence and a platform to display her talent for drawing and bringing Rob’s characters to life.

’The great thing is that these books gives Karmen another chance to show people her wonderful artwork.

’We don’t talk about what the characters will look like or anything like that.

’When it gets to the characters, then it is totally up to Karmen and her imagination to come up with which picks up on how they will look and interact through the story.

’They are fabulous pictures, full of life and colour, and they are wonderful for children to relate to.’

Rob said that he fell into writing by accident after creating stories with his grandchildren, revealed that they are teaming up again to create four more stories, called the ’Manx Bedtime books’, of which ’Pink’ is the first.

’For a dyslexic retired maths teacher and an accidental author who never thought this would happen, this has become quite a passion of mine that is helping me through my retirement.’

The books have been published by Bunch Creative and created with help from the Isle of Man Arts Council, Hartford Homes and Patricia Wild.

The books are available from the Lexicon, Shoprite stores and online from bunchcreative.im