Illustrations by British artist Charlie Mackesy, commissioned before he received acclaim for his best-selling 2019 book, are to feature in a debut author’s collection of woodland stories.
Tales From Muggleswick Wood: A Magical Bedtime Treasury by Vicky Cowie is full of rhyming stories inspired by her love of animals, nature, and her family life and childhood memories.
The illustrations for her five stories were commissioned in 2017, two years before the release of Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse, which won the Oscar for best animated short film in 2023 after it was adapted for the screen.
A representative for Mackesy said: “He’s excited for Vicky, a dear friend, on the republication of her book series which he illustrated some years ago.”
Before publishers Bloomsbury discovered Cowie’s tales she self-published her five stories in 2018, selling them out of the back of her horsebox when attending horse shows.
Cowie said: “My first meeting with Charlie (Mackesy) working together on my book was a surreal and brilliant day for us both.
“Neither of us had had a book published before, so he asked me to just read my stories to him.
“For the next two hours I read him all five rhyming stories in Tales From Muggleswick Wood, putting on all my silly voices that I had for the many loveable characters.
“Only my children had heard these stories and voices before when I read to them!
“Both Charlie and I had grown up near the real Muggleswick Wood in Northeast England, so as a fellow country lover, Charlie totally understood my humour and all the country life in the stories.
“And there, right before my eyes, my world started to come to life through his beautiful illustrations.
“Whatever I had in my imagination, he created in sketches fast and furiously, and in those first two hours together, Charlie had sketched all five stories!
“Melvin The Mole was drawn with such love for country life. Lady Plumcake’s hairdo was just like my mothers.
“The little boy in The Biggest Blooming Beetle with the auburn hair, was my nephew Albie. And the magnificent and magical black horse was the spit of my own horse Nifty.
“It is such a privilege knowing I worked with Charlie on my book before he became so successful.
“And now, at last, his gentle and colourful illustrations in my book will be seen and loved too.”
Cowie’s book is comprised of stories; The Magic Of Muggleswick Wood, The Biggest Blooming Beetle, The Secret Of Snittington Hall, Melvin the Mole, and Kevin The Kelpie.
Mackesy’s The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse was named book of the year by Waterstones after its publication in 2019 and won the Bafta for best British short animation in 2023.
Tales From Muggleswick Wood: A Magical Bedtime Treasury will be published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books on November 7.
