New children's book wonders why you never see a seagull knitting in a tree

Why Is It? is a product of the partnership between author Donald McArthur and artist Lynsey Guidi. The book started life as a poem written by Donald last spring, after a walk with his wife raised a question about the number of wood-pigeons in the trees.

Donald explained: “My brain asked me a rhetorical question about why we never see seagulls sitting in a tree? Within two seconds, my creative instinct changed it to ‘why is it we never see seagulls knitting in a tree?'’ because it's a funnier line! By the time I had walked a few yards to catch up with my wife, I had another two lines in my head. Within an hour or two, I had the poem and the narrative written.”

After a test reading at a local nursery produced positive feedback, Donald contacted Lynsey having previously commissioned work from her as a gift.

And then, teaming up with Lynsey’s brother Scott, they decided to self-publish the book through Amazon.

Should the book prove popular, there’s already a follow-up in the pipeline - although according to Donald the hard work is all in front of them now that his “easy” part is complete.

Donald said: “I wrote the follow up book just in case a publisher decided to take us on asking if we had any other projects in the pipeline.

“It's 90 per cent complete in poem form and Lynsey now has all the 'hard work' doing the artwork. My part is easy”.