A BASINGSTOKE author has released her third children’s book which she hopes will help develop children’s reading.

Linda Dobinson who has lived in Basingstoke for over 40 years published her book called Molly Mack Private Detective last year on December 20 through a publisher called Blossom Spring Publishing.

Linda said: “This is my third children’s book for those between the ages if eight and twelve and it is about a girl named Molly who is nearly 12 and when she grows up she wants to be a dedicative in London. While she is still a child, she starts her own little detective agency.

“She has three cases on her books and then a bigger case comes along, and we follow Molly as she solves all her cases.”

She hopes the book will encourage more youngsters to read.

She added: “The first two children’s books I published I sent to local schools in Basingstoke including Hatch Warren School, which is just down the road from me. I sent loads off for the children to support children reading.

“You can follow Molly it would take you away from yourself for a little while and I think it helps to develop children’s reading and they can really just get lost in the story and perhaps they could think ‘oh I could do what Molly does, I could be Molly’ and they can really identify with her.”

The dedicated author found her love of writing children’s book through her own poetry.

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She said: “I fell into writing by accident because I started writing back in the 90s and I wrote poetry and I always thought of myself as a poet. I have always been a big reader and I wondered if I could write a novel because people always say there is a novel in everybody, and I wondered if there is really a novel in me.

“I thought why I don’t look at my children’s poem and I thought if they had a beginning middle and end I could try expanding them into an actual book ad as the saying goes once I started I couldn’t stop.”

Linda is excited for the children to pick up her novel.

She added: “It is very rewarding when you get to the end, and it is such a good feeling to say oh my goodness this is mine and when I have the book in my hand and I look at it I think I wrote this and it is an amazing feeling. I hope that children everywhere will love it.

For more information or order the book, visit: www.amazon.co.uk/Molly-Private-Detective-Linda-Dobinson/dp/1739886607.

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