UNITED KINGDOM – After being diagnosed with cancer at just 29 determined Laura Lyth turned to writing children’s books. And the talented 33-year-old, of Basford, hopes her third novel, Danny’s Anger Monster, will help youngsters deal with their emotions.
The mum-of-two penned Danny’s Anger Monster – illustrated by David Hearn – to enable children to recognise feelings of anger and instead of shutting them away, she encourages the main character, Danny, to confront them. Laura lost a male friend recently who tragically took his own life which is why she chose the main character to be a boy.
Mother to two boys herself, Bradley aged 13 and Edison aged six, Laura finds herself teaching her children the lessons Danny’s Monster teaches the readers. Laura said: “My own children inspire me every day. Any conversation with them as a mum you’re teaching them lessons. I’d like to be like the monster, I want them to grow up knowing that it’s okay to feel things that are hard to feel. I was inspired by my own loss. I’ve lost somebody close to me who was a male. That’s what inspired the main character in the book to be a male. Not everybody feels they can speak about their problems. These books encourage them to create coping mechanisms and say it’s brave to feel hard feelings.”
In her previous book, The Milky Way, she used the storyline to tackle the stigma of breastfeeding. She then released Danny’s Monster – the first in the series.
Laura decided to fulfil her dreams of writing when she received a diagnosis of cervical cancer when she was just 29. She said: “I didn’t think I was good enough to write books or have them in print. It was only after having cancer that my mindset changed. That shift in outlook that life is too short – so just take a risk.”
Since having her treatment, Laura has been in remission for three years. She said: “I’ve got a checkup coming up soon, recently they’ve changed from every three months to six months. After five years it’s less likely that the cancer will return.”
In her latest book the monster is there to help Danny talk about his emotions. She said: “Danny starts to feel angry in the latest books. It’s described physically and emotionally to help children identify them. Along comes the monster who we’ve met in the first book, he’s there to teach Danny how to cope with the emotions. Danny decides he doesn’t like the emotion and he wants to get rid of it. He tries to build a time machine, to go back in time to prevent him coming or to go forward to get ahead of it. The monster advises against it as the time machine doesn’t work. Danny’s monster gives him coping strategies to help cope practically with the feeling. After trying some of the activities, Danny does feel better and the monster leaves again. He’ll always come back as long as there are things Danny needs to learn. The monster has gone for now, that’s a little clue that he’s going to come back. There are countless emotions that people struggle with and the monster will keep returning to keep teaching.”
