THE FOUR FRIENDS SERIES
Simple tales for young children with subtle wellbeing messages. The Four Friends – Tayley, Popp, Gully and Donnie – live on and around a magical Scottish island. They enjoy many wonderful experiences together, and when things are not so good, they rely on each other to get through. These are books for reading out loud to little ones, or for confident young readers to read to them-selves. All four books in the series all contain the Four Friends somewhere in the pictures, and there are hidden creatures on every page for children to spot.
Enter the world of the Four Friends, where young beaver Tayley has made his nest on a small loch on a typical Scottish island. When a ferocious storm strikes, Tayley is scared that his home won't last the night. When he is joined by his equally scared friend Popp, a small town bird, they face their fears together and comfort each other until the storm passes.
ISBN 978-1909675230 | 32 Pages | High-quality paperback £7.99
Donnie is the most playful dolphin in the sea around the Four Friends island. One day a dark creature looms ahead of him on the waves. Understandably scared, he tries to rationalise what he is seeing, but it isn't until his friend, Gully the seagull, swoops down to join him, that he can make sense of it all.
ISBN 978-1909675230 | 32 Pages | Paperback £7.99
Coming in 2021 - Popp & Gully
Popp is a small town bird, who readers will met first during the storm in Tayley's Nest, but there are things that scare Popp too, as you will find out in Popp's Night Sky. Readers will also find out more about Gully the seagull, the fourth of the Friends, in his own adventure. Watch here for developments over the next few months.
Illustrator's preliminary sketches
The Author and Illustrator of the Four Friends Series
David Brian Johnson - storyteller
Dave is half-Scottish ex-mariner who now lives in Washington DC in America. He loves everything and anything to do with the sea, with wildlife, and with Scotland. These stories and characters were inspired by his young son, who loved hearing his father's comforting stories from the age of three, with their reliable characters and adventurous settings. Dave's motivation is to help young children explore and gain insights from their own boundless imaginations. His website "StoryLad" will be up and running soon, so you can follow Dave as he creates his other Four Friends' stories.
Deirdre Malcolm - illustrator
Deirdre has a BA (Honours) in Fine Art and currently lectures in a Glasgow college. She was the first artist to 'get inside' Dave's head and bring his characters to life in the way he envisaged them, applying her immense creativity, imagination and attention to detail. She lives in a rural village near to Loch Lomond where she is constantly inspired by the colours of nature around her. Her young grand-daughters, who live nearby, have loved watching the characters of the Four Friends taking shape on the many hand-painted canvases dotted around her home.
