As part of our Meet the Author feature, we sat down with teacher and children’s author Nicole Beauregard Aird to discuss the story behind her first-ever book.
Inspired by her own dog, ‘Bobby Sees It Different’ is all about the silly things that her dog does in the hope that other pet owners can relate.
Have you always enjoyed reading?
Yes, I’ve loved it forever. Ever since I could read, I was off and away. My Year 2 teacher read me the Magic Tree House series and I was in love. From then on – that was it. I was a reader.
I was a confident reader because once I got the hang of it, I just loved it. I would always read at home, read to my parents and read at school. I never really struggled with reading; it was something that I really enjoyed.
What was your favourite childhood book?
The Magic Tree House series – I really liked that one.
I also enjoyed the Geronimo Stilton series about a mouse that solves mysteries. That was my first introduction to the mystery genre. Now I love a good mystery.
I’ve recently got into summer beach reads, all of those romance novels and things like that – things that get turned into a Netflix series. I love books like that.
I also really like biographies.
What was your education and professional journey?
In America, you go from high school straight to university, so I left high school at 18 and went to the first teachers’ college in America – Framingham State. For my four-year degree, I studied teaching and psychology. I met my husband at university. After I graduated, we got married.
Then, I moved to England and the first thing I did was start working in a primary school. I was a one-to-one aide with this child there and worked my way up from that.
Why did you want to become a teacher?
Teaching has always been something that I wanted to do. I was that little kid who would play with their teddies and set up a classroom in their room.
School was such a fun and safe place for me. It was somewhere that I wanted to spend all my time, and I absolutely wanted to continue that. I connected with my teachers, and saw how they could touch students and how they helped me. I wanted to give back and do that for students as well.
Why did you decide to become an author?
I was always kind of rubbish at writing, if I’m honest. I was that kid where the teachers would put question marks next to my paragraphs. I would never get any feedback on how to fix it, so I always thought I was a bad writer but didn’t know how to get any better. I struggled with that.
Even going to university, they had us write a paper and it was for them to tell us if we were a good writer or not. If they decided we weren’t, we had to take a writing class. And I had to take a writing class. So I always thought this was so out of reach and I’d never be able to do it.
My cousin is a children’s book author. I watched her put out book after book and it got me thinking. “I’ve always wanted to write a children’s book. If I think I’m a bad writer, I just need to practise.” So I worked on it for around two years and then I made this.
Can you tell us about the book?
This book is about my dog, who became my dog later in life because he was my husband’s childhood pet. I met him when I moved here, and I fell in love.
He is my favourite. He does many silly things, whether it be how he frolics in the ocean or hides things around the house. I thought creating this book would be a lovely way to immortalise my dog and provide a nice story for children who might also have pets who do these silly things too.
It’s about the things that we might think when we see our dogs doing these silly things. And then, on the other side, it is about how the dog might view these things and how that might be a little different to how we do. For example:
“Bobby often scratches and rips at the blankets. He must be trying to get comfortable, we say. But Bobby sees it different. Bobby believes he is building an epic blanket fort. It can fit him and his entire family, and stretches a mile wide.”
What was the writing process for this book like?
I started this book during lockdown. Lockdown felt like a time when we all explored dreams that we didn’t have the time for before.
I enjoyed writing it because I got to think about my dog in a new light. Also, it was really sweet to think we’ll have this forever, even after he passes away.
I actually wrote the book really quickly, probably within a week. Then I sat on it for a long time thinking, “Is this any good? Will people read it?”
I edited it here and there, making small changes. After about a year, I finally got the courage to contact an illustrator. Then I sat on it for another six months. I was nervous about putting the book out.
After all that time, I just put it all together, self-published it on Amazon, closed my eyes, and hoped.
How has the book been received?
I didn’t think people would care about it, but I’ve had some lovely feedback. My friends and family really like it, and I’ve heard many children enjoy it too.
The children at my school have read it and they loved it. They all know I’ve got two new puppies now, so keep asking, when’s the sequel? I might have to write another one.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
I would tell myself not to count myself out. I counted myself out on a lot of dreams because I thought I wouldn’t be able to do them. I would say keep working hard and you’ll be able to do anything you want.
I was told a million times that I wouldn’t be able to do this, and I thought, no – I am going to do it.