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Children’s Author and Illustrator 2025

Inspiring Children’s Picture Books 2024

As we approach the end of 2024 I am delighted with the new children’s picture books I have added to my children’s book collection this year. This year my books have been inspired by significant people I have met in my life, aspiring role models that have had a purpose and legacy that cannot be summed up in a little book. Yet I have tried my best to honour them in my modest little scribbles and writing!

Children’s First Prayers and Commandments!

My First Prayer Book

Inspired by both a teacher and family friend who would appear at our little cottage in Morningside like ‘Mary Poppins’ this book was dedicated to ‘Our Sister Magdalene’. Sister Magdalene would regularly visit offering my parents a break from myself and my 8 siblings. She always appeared on her motorcycle with her leather bag tied to the back seat of her Honda. We would all sit eagerly waiting around the fireplace to discover what she had tucked away in her bag; arts and crafts, puzzles or games -she never ceased to surprise us!

Sister Magdalene

Children’s Ten Commandments

Surprisingly my second book this year ‘Children’s Ten Commandments; Whispers from God was also inspired by another nun Sister Martina Boylan. I first met Martina in my early 20’s after graduating from Art College where we struck up a friendship and I discovered her amazing life’s story in particular her work in Uganda in the 1960’s and 70’s. Martina’s miraculous fervour for life continues unhampered even at 93 only earlier this summer she suddenly appeared at my front door with her zimmer after jumping on a train from London to come and visit her friends in Scotland.

Already both of these books have become personal favourites of mine with a special young nieces seal of approval by insisting that her dad reads her ‘My First Prayer Book’ every night.

I am not sure what new books I will have in store in 2025, and who will inspire me to put pencil to paper but both of these books were a pleasure to create, in honour of two of the most remarkable women I have had the pleasure to know!

Children's Ten Commandments; Whispers from God picture book by Children's Author and Illustrator Denise McKeever
My First Prayer Book picture book by Children's Author and Illustrator Denise McKeever

Learn more about reading both books along with Granny Burn Story Time!

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AUTUMN NEWS

Welcome to our quarterly newsletter with the latest Autumn News & updates about our new books, ebooks, story times & promotions. Our followers will have enjoyed our FREE giveaways so be sure to sign-up & follow me & stay in the loop with my FREE Gifts.

Likewise if you aren’t already familiar with Goodreads and Smashwords sign-up and join us and take advantage of all our annual New Year & Summer promotions on Ebooks. Just E-mail the words SIGN-UP to info@denisemckeever.com

In our next Winter edition we will be announcing some new additions to our successful ‘Granny Burns Story Time- Series 2’ following the success of Series 1 of 11 Episodes with Granny Burns. Our episode ‘My Scottish Alphabet’ has been a roaring success with 52k + views.

This Autumn we have added lots of new articles which we share on all our social media accounts from Pinterestto Instagram & Facebook. We now have some excellent articles with book recommendations for Parents on Self Help & Personal Development-some of my all time favourites.

This November we will be running a FREE Ebook Give away on Amazon. So make share your following me and watch out on our social media platforms for a reminder of the final dates! See you soon xx!

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Web: www.denisemckeever.com Email: info@denisemckeever.com Youtube: Granny BurnsStory Time

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Scottish Children’s Author & Illustrator 2024!

What inspires her to write & draw?

One of the most crucial decisions I ever made in my career was the decision to go to Art College. As a young person I had ambitions to be a Fashion designer and received an unconditional offer to attend both Heriot-Watt University Scottish Borders Campus-Galashiels and Edinburgh College of Art. My years at Edinburgh as a young student were fabulous and opened my eyes to a world of various forms of art & design I had never considered before.

The privilege of attending Art College was the opportunity to have a taster of everything from sculpture, ceramics, product design , graphics, animation, stain glass, tapestry, fine art, jewellery silver smithing, interior design to fashion design. That first love of drawing cartoon characters convinced me of my choice to choose to study for four years at an Art college over a Technical University for Textiles. Still to this day 37 years on this was one of the best decisions I ever made in life.

During this same time I became a late adopter to reading starting with self help and personal development books and also business books introduced to me through my father a self made entrepreneur and business owner. As the years progressed reading has become a key interest and love only second to Art leading me to roles as a Business Mentor to CEO’s & young business start-ups.

Today after over 20 years as a business owner in the Textile & Retail industry I have returned to one of my early passions drawing and illustrating combined with my second love writing.

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My first attempt at children’s illustration began with ‘My First Friend’ depicting my family Golden Retriever dog Polly and my sisters dog Penny. ‘My First Friend’ has received great results in America selling in over 42 U.S.A States. But my favourite book of all is ‘My Scottish Alphabet’ with my own unique characters and personalities of Nessie, Midge & Highland Cow.

Discover Granny Burns Story Time!

Learn more about my books…………..

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Digit: Encourage your child’s interest and love of numbers and counting

Discover The Scribblers and Digit: Encourage your child’s interest and love of numbers and counting! Available to download FREE in eBook format from 29th February to 2nd March 2024 only.

Welcome to the wonderful world of ‘The Scribblers’ and the joyful world of Digit! Discover and encourage your Child’s individual skills and talents through numbers and understanding their love of counting and numeracy with our wonderful character Digit! If your child love’s numbers, counting and arithmetic this humorous characterisations of your Child’s talents and joy of numbers can develop into something wonderful and creative. 

Why not discover if you may have your own little Scribe,Doodle,Splat or Digit?

  • The Scribblers book series is an Exciting and Creative Book Series!
  • Each Book Highlights the Individual Skills and Talents of Children at an Early Age!
  • Does your Little One Love numbers & counting? 
  • Introduce your child to our Fantastical Creative Creatures that they will Love and Identify with as they discover their Own Individual Talents, Interests and Loves.
  • Read this book along and aloud with Granny Burns Story Time on YouTube!
  • REMEBER ALL of our Paperbacks/Hardbacks are printed especially for your individual order by Amazon!

Enjoy also some humorous characterisations of young children depicted by Digit who loves numbers, Doodles fascination of drawing or Splats exuberant joy of self expression. Just a few of the many books created by Scottish Children’s Author & Illustrator Denise McKeever.

If you would like to learn more about our quarterly FREE give aways and promotions visit sign-up now!

Many Thanks

X Denise

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‘Truth’ the 1st principle in Parenting Teens

In my Young Adult fantasy novel ‘The Gamekeepers; the Highland Games’ the character Misneachail teaches the most important concept missing in the 21st Century ‘Truth’. Misneachail epitomises the necessity for calling out the ‘Truth’ and its necessity for the world and society to function.

   ” ‘A’Damh Misneachail’; Misneachail the Stag meaning courageous. Misneachail the Stag was a force of nature that was fearless and renowned for his forthrightness and outspokenness in pursuit of only one thing the truth. There are opposing tales of what he was like some stories portrayed him as a bully while others describe a captivating storyteller of tall tales and mischief.”

As parents navigating the 21st Century we face many challenges, none more than an ideology that ‘Hurt Feelings’ supersede the intrinsic need for reality and truth. The fabric of society will slowly and then quickly crumble when we fail to have the courage to be ‘the parents in the room’ and defend and teach the truth to our children and teenagers. Ideologies have came and gone in every civilisation and are eventually swept away when based on a lie, untruth or fictional concept.

At 53 the greatest male and female role models of my lifetime in parenting were strong men and women individuals brought up in the 1920’s and 1940’s.

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

Similarly Hard times create strong parents, strong parents create good times, good times create weak parents and weak parents create hard times’.

Parenting isn’t about the the big issues but multiple small intrinsic lessons in the principles, habits and standards we demonstrate, teach and show by example to our children. The now functioning responsible adults I once knew as children came from parents that believed in being a real ‘Parent, Mum or Dad’ rather than ‘your Best Friend’. Parenting is wonderful, a privilege and the greatest gift you can ever receive but is an ever changing challenge, a roller coaster ride that to navigate you need structure, consistency and the hardest thing of all ‘tough love’.

It can take many decades before you recognise the truths in life, it often takes time before you recognise those that spoke the ‘Truth’. That firm auntie or uncle, that scolding grandparent did so because they understood that true love isn’t always about being your best friend or being liked, but by teaching you that the ‘Truth’ always prevails. Even if on reflection it may take you until adulthood or even decades to recognise who truly loved you?

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SPRING NEWS

Likewise if you aren’t already familiar with Goodreads and Smashwords sign-up and join us and take advantage of all our annual New Year & Summer promotions on Ebooks.

In our next Summer edition we will be announcing our successful ‘Granny Burns Story Time- Series 2’ following the success of Series 1 of 11 Episodes with Granny Burns. Our episode ‘My Scottish Alphabet’ has been a roaring success with 52k + views.

This Spring we have added lots of new articles which we share on all our social media accounts from Pinterest, X to Instagram & Facebook. We now have some excellent articles with book recommendations for Parents on Self Help & Personal Development-some of my all time favourites. Plus a whole section for teenagers too.

Web: www.denisemckeever.com Email: info@denisemckeever.com Youtube: Granny BurnsStory Time

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Tips for Helping Creative Children!

What are the Top Tips for Helping Creative Children? As a Creative; Art student, Design Graduate, Maker, Fashion Designer, Product Designer, Illustrator, Writer what helped me growing up as a Creative Child?

For me my greatest pride as a 10 year old was the old diary I carried everywhere, which I filled with my copies of Disney characters. This was the beginning of my love for drawing & illustrating children’s characters. I got the bug from a competition in my village library where I can remember myself as a 5 year old devastated that I never won! A disappointment that never disheartened me but was the beginning of my journey as a creative child and then adult.

For me the five key elements that helped that creative child were;

  1. Support, encouragement and interest from others- my parents, my aunts, uncles, teachers. Every talent has an opportunity to flourish and grow if encouraged.
  2. Basic tools– as the second eldest with eight siblings my parents helped us all where they could to give us the basic tools for our interests and passions. In my case in the 70’s cheap affordable sketch books and drawing pads weren’t common place and affordable. But I relished using paper off cuts from my dads business old unused and unfilled diaries- they were my sketch books. The lined paper didn’t stop me from drawing.

3. Competition– my talents grew when I always had someone to compare myself against. Whether this was one of my best friends in 6th year at High School who later went on to study Sculpture at Art College who I constantly compared myself against and shared a common passion for art and drawing. To the primary school library books where I glimpsed a collection of four Disney catalogues that imprinted my earliest memory of my favourite Artist- Walt Disney. That was what I wanted to aspire to become!

4. Variety– an opportunity to try different genres, styles and areas of art. At Art College my foundation year was fabulous! Jam packed into one year I tried sculpture, ceramics, stain glass, graphics, illustration, fine art, fashion, jewellery and silversmithing! A reflection of my childhood surrounded by a Mother who taught us all to sew, knit, crochet, a Dad that loved drawing horses, and aunts and friends that would appear with bags full of paints and crafts and spend endless hours doing crafts with me and my siblings.

5. Knowing– that instinct for knowing what I loved, what I enjoyed what made my heart sing. That early recognition of what I would spend hours doing without effort. What reflected my introvert persona, my pleasure of working alone and the satisfaction and love for just creating.

If you think you have a creative child why not check out my books series ‘The Scribblers’. Do you have a child that is an budding artist, builder, creator what I call a ‘Doodle’. A child that loves making a mess, splashing, the outdoors, gardening a ‘Splat’. Or maybe a little one that loves numbers or words a ‘Digit’ or ‘Scribe’. What ever your child’s talents are support them with, encouragement, resources(tools), variety, competition and space to discover who they are ‘their love & talent’.

If you want yo learn more visit my Youtube page to see me live at work!