«Leonard and Loulou»
The sun was peeping through the windowpane when Leonard woke up to find a small cat sitting next to him on his bed. «Where do you come from?» Leonard asked. «My cat mother told me to come to see you because you need me», said the small cat. «What’s your name?», asked Leonard «My mother always calls me Loulou. I don’t really know what it means, but I like the name», the small cat said «Then I’ll call you Loulou as well», Leonard said. «What are you going to do today?», Loulou asked. «Sadly I have to go to school but I’m scared», said Leonard. «Why are you scared?», Loulou asked. «I’m scared that I’m not good enough at school», Léonard said. «My friends are so much better than me.» «Oh, you poor thing. You know what? I’ll come with you…!», Loulou said. «But how can I explain to my teacher that you’d like to sit in the classroom too, and besides, how am I going to explain to my mother why you’re here?» «Don’t worry. None of this is a problem», Loulou said.
This is the beginning of my children’s book. Why did I choose these two characters?
My son Leonard always wanted to have a cat. That’s why two years ago Loulou came to us as a three-month-old kitten. It was a gift from a dear friend.
The first nights, Loulou crept under Leonard’s duvet and snuggled up to his warm body. Leonard hardly slept. He was so worried about his cat’s well-being.
After four nights, he came to me crying. He wanted to sleep again undisturbed, he sobbed. So I took over Loulou. For months, she was looking for human being’s proximity and slipped under my duvet.
«Mum, write us a story»
Night after night before going to bed, I told my two sons, who are now 12 and 14 years old, lots of stories. We travelled with Jim Knopf (written by Michael Ende) around the world, we suffered with Michel von Lönneberga (by Astrid Lindgren) when he was imprisoned again, because his father had not understood his prank; or we were excited with Doctor Dolittle and his animals (by Hugh Lofting) when they took off with their ship to Africa.
We all three loved these hours with these stories. And my two sons kept on saying: «Mum, why don’t you write us a new story». And I’ve waited a long time.
The reason why I finally started was that Leonard didn’t want to go to school anymore. He felt misunderstood by his teachers and got teased by his classmates. So I tried to figure out how to solve this situation by starting to write and transform it into a story.
That's why I need your support
As a former communication manager of various major Swiss companies, I did have to travel to Berlin to print the employee magazine of the company X. It has been the most cost-effective solution.
I don’t want to do this again. I’d like to publish my illustrated children’s book «Leonard and Loulou» in Switzerland by self-publishing it. The name of my blog «Swiss made Story» tells me to do it as well. And for this, I need your support.
