Shrewsbury eight-year-old becomes a published author

At the time, it was simply a way to keep boredom at bay while Bertie, now aged eight, was off school due to illness.

But now they are celebrating the publication of their first children’s book – Bogre The Ogre Who Really Loves Yoga. They were sat at their kitchen table when inspiration for the story first struck.

“Between October 2021 and February 2022, Bertie had a real run of viruses. He had one thing after the other,” explains Lauren, 32. “This meant lots of time off school. We played a lot of board games and read a lot of books. We then decided to see if we could write a story together.”

Lauren and Bertie, who live near Shrewsbury, began with a conversation about the key elements of compelling stories before discussing ideas for the plot.

“We talked about stories having a beginning, middle and end. We spoke a lot about what kind of problems our character might face and came up with the idea of liking different things to his friends.

“Bertie liked Pokemon, but his friends didn’t so it was something he could relate to at his age and the story developed from there.

“It was very much a joint venture, we wrote the story together. Bertie is very good at rhyming. My main part was just adding the finesse. A lot of the ideas and words came from Bertie,” explains Lauren. 

Their story is about Bogre, an ogre who really enjoys yoga, so much so that he wants to share it with his friends. However when they all attend a class together, they soon realise that yoga is not for all of them.

Bertie, who attends Longden CofE Primary School, originally came up with an idea for a character named Zac the Zombie but the name proved a bit of a challenge. 

“Not a lot rhymes with zombie,” says Lauren. “Bogre the Ogre gives people a little giggle.” 

Once they had their main character, Bertie decided his friends would be Leo the Lynx and Bee the Bear.

“Bogre likes yoga, Bee likes bouncing and Leo likes climbing trees. He likes climbing trees because I like climbing trees,” says Bertie, who enjoys reading books by authors including Tom Fletcher and Julia Donaldson. 

Their first draft was written on a piece of A4 paper and took the pair about an hour to write and the first person to read Bogre The Ogre Who Really Loves Yoga was Bertie’s dad Jacob, who was full of praise for the tale.

They also read the story to Bertie’s younger brother Ralph, now aged four, who found the rhyming entertaining. It wasn’t until the family were discussing their plans and New Year’s resolutions for 2023 that they decided to try sharing their story with the world.

“I asked Bertie what he wanted to do in 2023 and he said: I want to publish Bogre the Ogre.

“We felt inspired by all of the incredible writers out there – we had done a lot of reading during the time Bertie was off school – but we thought there was room for one more book. We felt it was a good story with a good message,” explains Lauren.

“It did take me until the very end of 2023 to get my act in gear. I contacted 10 publishers and Pegasus Publishers offered us a contract in February 2024,” she adds.

Once their publishing deal was confirmed, Bertie got involved in discussions about the illustrations.

“I wanted Bogre to have his name on his T-shirt, Bee to like polka dots and Leo to wear a black t-shirt,” he explains. 

“The whole thing has been really fun. There have been lots of different people involved in the process,” adds Lauren. 

The book, which is dedicated to Jacob and Ralph, was published earlier this year and Bertie said he was “excited” to see it on the shelves of Waterstones in Shrewsbury. “Just before it was published we had a very exciting parcel arrive.

“It was the first time we got to see our own book in real life,” says Lauren. 

“It was amazing,” adds Bertie.The mother and son team are now enjoying being published authors and are already thinking of ideas for a second book.

“I've already thought of an idea of what book I should do next,” says Bertie.

“Everybody has been really supportive and lovely,” says Lauren.

“Lots of Bertie’s friends have bought the book and asked him to sign it. His teacher, Mr Russ, has been really supportive and has really been a champion of him.

“It’s been a really fun thing to do together and a really positive thing to come out of his time being poorly.

“I don’t think it would have been something I would have done alone so it’s been lovely doing it with Bertie and it’s something we will always treasure,” Lauren adds.

The book is available from booksellers including Waterstones and from No. 61 Mardol, Shrewsbury. See pegasuspublishers.com/books/bertie-and-lauren-hartshorn/bogre-the-ogre-who-really-loves-yoga