Who am I?
Hi there, I'm Rebecca
I love being in nature, especially by the sea, and I'm always excited for new adventures.
When I was little, I lived near Dartmoor, where sometimes cows would walk past our house! I also have a fun memory of riding a train called the Gus Honeybun train at Plymouth Hoe, I always thought it would bump into the fence so it was a bit scary, but I was brave!
When I was 4, my family moved to a village called Lymm, where I made lots of friends.
We had so much fun playing outside in a place called Slitten Brook. There was a stream with a little bridge and some caves—perfect for making up games and stories.
I’ve always loved drawing, even when I was small. My favourite lesson at school was story time, and I would never have guessed that one day, I would put my love of drawing and stories together to make books!
Before I started writing stories, I worked in hotels and even on cruise ships! One of the ships I worked on was super famous as it was in a TV series called 'The Love Boat'.
Working at sea was an adventure. I went white water rafting in Alaska, rode in helicopters, and flew in sea planes. I even tried a rocket ride called Fly by Wire, which felt amazing as I zoomed through the air!
I saw so many amazing animals—whales, seals, stingrays, fairy penguins, koalas, kangaroos, elephants, iguanas, a marmot and turtles. And once, I even had a snake put around my neck. Eek!
You can scroll through to see pictures of the different animals I saw
(Press or click the picture to make it bigger)
Some of my favourite places to visit were New Zealand, Bora Bora, Barbados, and Hawaii, (where Moana is from).
My adventures didn’t stop there! I lived in Australia for a while, and later near Disneyland Paris.
Living near Disney was so much fun because I got to visit the park and the studio a lot. I loved learning how they draw characters for movies and books. My favourite character is Donald Duck—maybe because he’s a sailor, just like I was!
The adventures I had inspired my stories, 'Scaredy Bear's Courageous Tale' and 'Sad Seal Saves the Day'. I spent a lot of time in Alaska and lived in Seattle, where I enjoyed exploring beaches, walking in woods, and watching whales and seals.
On a recent trip to sunny Barbados, I heard some very noisy little frogs! They chirped and whistled all night long and kept me wide awake—so I wrote a story about one of them called 'Happy Harry the Whistling Frog'.
Did you know they have real brown bears in Alaska and Seattle, just like the one in my story Scaredy Bear?
Now, I live in the north of England close to my family, with my husband, Graham.
I still love going on adventures—walking in forests, comping by the sea, and climbing up mountains helps me imagine new stories! I also love singing Disney songs with my choir and practicing mindfulness to feel calm and happy.
I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures, and I hope you’ll have fun reading the adventures in my books too!
Rebecca
(For grown-ups: You can CLICK HERE to learn more about my journey and how I help children with their emotions.)