Eddy Finds a Family
Sarah and her husband tried for a child for eight years. It was a difficult journey but they completed their family in 2016 and adopted their son. At the time Sarah felt there were not many books available to help children understand adoption in a better way and so, during lock down she decided to self-publish her first children’s book ‘Eddy Finds a Family’ in December 2020.
Writing a book has been a life changing experience for me. The first lock down in 2020 was tough but suddenly having a goal to write a book was making me feel excitement on a whole new level. I seemed to have buried my creative side, but suddenly there it was, bursting to come out. I loved every moment and each step I took made me more and more determined to get my book out there into the world. My book is a tribute to our son which also helped as a motivator. It means so much to be able to give him this gift as his mummy.
My goal was to write a colourful and engaging story so all children would be able to understand adoption in a better way. Eddy Finds a Family is unique as it explains both the parent and child’s journey through adoption.
My son often asks, ‘How did you find me?’ and, ‘Was I lost?’ as he is interested to know how we came together to be a family. This is so vitally important. My son has been my chief editor, asking questions about the characters and commenting on the draft illustrations. It has been wonderful for him to have such involvement and having a child’s perspective has helped fine-tune the story, so I have confidence it will appeal to many children and they will get great joy from the characters.
As the topic of adoption is extremely sensitive, I had to ensure the content was precise, accurate and up to date. I worked closely over several months with our social worker to proofread and edit every fine detail, and so grateful to Sue Armstrong Brown, CEO of Adoption UK who read the final manuscript. My book is now available on Amazon and The Flamingo Family website, and has been receiving great reviews.
I am pleased to say I have started to write the next book in the series, with many people engaged in ideas. It will be about Eddy settling in with his new family, and if you would like to be involved, please join The Flamingo Family Facebook group
I love knowing my book has touched the hearts of many children and would be thrilled for The Flamingo Family to become well known in many households.
Sarah McGeough, children’s author