'Plum' book deal for new author Jack

Standing under a plum tree provided the unlikely inspiration for the first book by Petrie author Jack Kavanagh.

In fact, all three children's adventure stories in Yuck! Food is from where? can be traced back to that moment in his garden.

Published by Austin Macauley in London, Mr Kavanagh's tales are based around where food is grown and produced.

It's a theme drawn from his years in farming and then dealing with landowners while in the construction industry.

But Mr Kavanagh said the spark came from his grandchildren looking up at a tree and asking what the fruit were above him?

“I told them plums,” he said. “They looked at each other and said plums come from a supermarket!

“That’s really the inspiration … where fruit comes from. The story is about children having to find an orchard in a garden.

“But all the time they have to be quiet and not seen by the Belldemon (a beast which guards the garden).”

Having written The Orchard’s Treasure, a contact suggested Mr Kavanagh did more stories before approaching a publisher.

A Delicious Dusty Breakfast followed, with its young characters discovering "where your cereal really comes from," the author said.

Then "watch out the vegetables are coming!" Mr Kavanagh said of his third tale about scheming veggies in The Vegetable Wars. 

In all the stories, the main young characters find themselves in “sometimes exciting, sometimes dangerous and sometimes comical” situations.

Mr Kavanagh sent his stories to Austin Macauley Publisher, who replied saying it print them in all one book!

“I had no idea about publishing, so it has been a bit of a ride!” the author said, “it’s taken three years, through COVID and all (correspondence) in writing.”

Mr Kavanagh sent suggestions for story illustrations, which have been used almost as submitted.

There is also interest in publishing more of his stories.

The sixth child in a family of eight, Mr Kavanagh started making up stories at a young age to entertain his brothers and sisters.

It continued when babysitting his many nieces and nephews and then family and friends encouraging him to write children’s books.

Yuck! Food is from where? is available from Austin Macauley Publisher, click here

It is also available in hard back and paper back on Booktopia and Amazon.