Bringing to life the stories originally written over fifteen years ago and lost in a house move, Meredith Jeffrey delights with his children’s tales, all of which centre on Gower, the first area in the UK to be awarded ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’ status, and where the author grew up.
There are 3 initial books covering a school year and each booklet has four stories and there is a story for every month of the year, each volume centres around the adventures of the whingeing Winifred and her best buddy, Meredith (who is said to have penned the stories and drawings). Running concurrently alongside the adventures of the two friends the author also weaves in tales of the Verry Volk, fairies that are very much part of Gower folklore. The author has written four more books so there is one booklet for every colour of the rainbow covering the next school year as Whingey and Meredith grow up and a scrap book with a surprise story. There is also a follow up booklet in draft called the Gold Book at the end of the rainbow and a book of games, recipes and facts mentioned in the stories published on Whingey’s website: whingeywiliiams.com called the multicolour book.
An engaging series of short intertwining stories that will be enjoyed by youngsters being read to at bedtime, as well as older children embarking on their independent reading journey, Whingey, her wellington boots and Meredith are destined to become literary favourites for those that live in the countryside as well as those who hail from the city from Gower, Wales, UK, and beyond.
Synopsis:
The stories are about Whingey Williams from Gower in Wales and her adventures with her best friend Meredith. Whingey whose real name is Winifred but everyone calls her Whingey as she likes to complain wears her wonderful Wellington boots everywhere as they stop her getting wet and dirty, stop her complaining and are so comfortable. Meredith finds it funny that she wears her Wellingtons even to visit Buckingham Palace, Father Christmas and the beach on a hot day in July but for some reason or other wearing her Wellingtons always turns out well. There is also a sub story about Verry Volk which is the real name given to fairies on Gower with a message that Whingey is asked to tell to the big people (humans) by the wisest fairy of them all in the fourth book.
The appearance of all the main characters in the stories are left to the reader’s and listener’s imagination but there is roughly a picture on every page of standard things mentioned at that point in the story to support the reader’s and listener’s imagination.
Most of the places where the adventures take place are real places or based on real places sometimes altered a little bit to fit in with the story and most of the legends and stories are true stories told on Gower but some are just down to the imagination of the author. None of the characters in the stories are real people or based on real people. The stories are said to be written by Meredith including the drawings. The stories are different to any other children's books because they are set in a real place although it is always shown in a positive light and none of the characters are based on real people. So readers and listeners can see pictures of the places online or even visit them. It has a theme about Wellington boots and in essence growing up and everyone likes Wellington boots and the theme also involves a girl complaining and being laughed at then turning out to be right. But it also tells everything about the Verry Volk as if they are real like butterflies and bats. And lots more besides. Over the 7 booklets there are stories of pirates, ghosts, witches, King Arthur and dragons most of which are also true stories told on Gower and information about different animals like the wild ponies, some old Gower words and Welsh words and general village life all seamlessly integrated with the story of Whingey’s wonderful Wellington Boots.
The first 3 booklets are:
- Term 1 includes: Fruit Picking; Shopping; Buckingham Palace; Santa Claus; Fairy Folk Chapter 1
- Term 2 includes: The Zoo; The Snowy Day’ The Pageant; The Woodland Walk; Fairy Folk Chapter 2
- Term 3 includes: The Party; The Funfair; The Beach; The Wedding; Fairy Folk Chapter 3
And the follow up booklets are:
- Midsummer to Midwinter: The Midsummer Nights Dream; Kite Flying; Welcome Home; The Pantomime; Fairy Folk Chapter 4
- One Last Time: The Adventure playground; The Cool Cousin; Pony Trekking; The folk festival; Fairy Folk Chapter 5
- The Red Wellington Boots: The Faraway Tree; The Birthday Party Another Year Older; Mr Adder; The Gower Show; Fairy Folk Chapter 6
- The Scrap Book: Suggested Adventures; The Lost Story; Fairy Folk Chapter 7
With a Gold Book in draft: The Flying Trip and an online book: Games, Grub and General Knowledge
Independently published, Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots are available as follows for the first three booklets on Amazon:
Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots – Term 1 –
https://bit.ly/3GRZNL9 and https://bit.ly/3CweK2U
Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots – Term 2 –
https://bit.ly/3ZhecaV and https://bit.ly/3iivOCE
Whingey Williams and her Wonderful Wellington Boots – Term 3 –
https://bit.ly/3QxNiaM and https://bit.ly/3XcSpPG
All the other booklets are also available on Amazon.
About the author:
Meredith Jeffery writes the stories about his best friend Whingey Williams. Meredith is from Gower which is a small piece of land that sticks out into the sea at the bottom of Wales one of the countries of the United Kingdom. Gower was the first area designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Britain. Meredith is of course a pen name for the real author who also grew up on Gower. The author’s father has been called The Father of the toy Action Man which won Toy of the year and then toy of the decade as he was chief manager when Action Man was first introduced and was involved in the naming and marketing of the toy. He then went on to manage Playmobil in the UK which also won Toy of the Year. So he is also the Father of Playmobil UK. His father always said If you have a good quality product and the right marketing it will sell and children will instinctively play with those toys. These stories just popped into his head one day and he wrote them down in an old leather bound note book and never had the chance to read them to anyone and then he lost the notebook in a house move. 15 years later he reluctantly (because he thought he would not remember them) agreed to rewrite one of the stories for his fiancée who says she was born under a Palm Tree in Dudley as her parents are form Jamaica and found they still just popped out of his head again as if he was writing a letter to a friend. So he has now rewritten all the stories again and some additional stories. So far everyone who has read them amongst his friends, relatives, work colleagues online book club review of 5 stars has loved them whether from Gower or the UK or overseas, so he now wants to see what more people from Gower and beyond the little land he calls home think of the stories. Maybe one day saying Don’t be a Whingey Williams Or don’t Whinge but be WIniferous when someone is complaining about something will be said all over the World.
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