GENRE: Humor, Character Driven, Concept
WORDS: 253
Query:
Dear editors and agents,
Don has lost his key. When Monkey kindly offers to help, it starts a madcap chain of events that no one sees coming…
With colorful characters and wacky wordplay this high concept tale about friendship and teamwork will appeal to fans of Quick Quack Quentin and the Oi series by Kes Gray and Jim Field. Ideal for boys and girls aged 3-6 who are just beginning to learn letters and write words.
I am a children’s writer living in London, UK. I have two picture books published with small presses: Supermoon (Tielmour Press) was released in November 2024, and Outside the Box (HB Publishing) was released in May 2025. I have a third – Why No Rhino? (New Frontier Publishing) – due out this September. I have also written-for-hire over ten interactive board books for Two Windmills and Out of the Box Books, a picture book for Mayo Clinic Press Kids called The Perfect One, and a picture book for Two Windmills called The Worry Monsters.
I started my writing journey by joining the year-long Golden Egg Academy Picture Book Programme in 2019. Since then I have completed Writing Magazine’s Writing for Children course, won 1st place in the Winchester Writers’ Festival Picture Book Competition (with the picture book I’m submitting), and won 1st place in the Glittery Literary Cherished Children’s Story Competition. I was a picture book mentor for the Write Mentor Summer Programme in 2022 and 2025, and I also run a print magazine called The Toy Press to give other writers and illustrators a platform for their work.
Before having kids and turning my hand to writing, I worked in TV as a Production Manager and got my degree in Media Studies at the University of East London. I grew up in Clacton on the coast of Essex and spent much of my childhood in or beside the sea, playing with my three cats, or being tormented by my two older brothers.
I hope you enjoy my submission. If you have any questions, please do get in touch.
Excerpt:
[In an Alphabet Book. ‘A for Anteater’ is talking to the reader]
“Whoa! Did you open the book too fast? Half my name nearly flew off the page! Please be more careful as I’d hate to become just an ant (although—yum—they are tasty!).
Actually, you’d better go and check on Donkey. He does NOT like losing his key. Who knows what will happen if he does…”
What inspired you to write this story & what do you have in common with it:
My inspiration for When Don Lost His key came from my love of humor and wordplay, plus a fascination with the way words are put together. I made a note during StoryStorm that the animals ‘donkey’, ‘monkey’, and ‘turkey’ all end with the word ‘key’, so I played around with whether any other animals shared such a distinctive ending. Then I asked the question: what might happen if one of these animals lost their ‘key’? The story developed from there.
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