Guest Post: Space Dust by Eloise De Sousa

This week I’d like to welcome fellow author Eloise De Sousa, who is doing a blog tour for her new book Space Dust. Welcome Eloise!

Thank you, Val, for hosting me on your fantastic blog. Let me start by introducing myself. I’m Eloise De Sousa, an adult and children’s author based in Berkshire. I’d like to welcome the readers who have been following my blog tour over the past few days. Thank you for your support.

So far, this tour has taken us to seven destination blogs, all different and all very talented in their craft. They have kindly accommodated my posts and helped share the news of my new children’s book, Space Dust. The book itself was written for the local Library Service to help support their Summer Reading Challenge which encourages children of all ages to read books from their local library over the summer holidays. I’m an avid supporter of children’s reading. Building great minds begins with a book!

space dust

If this is your first time joining the blog tour, let me give you a quick synopsis of the book.

Space Dust is a fantasy adventure about Little One and Big Ox. Little One’s mother has gone away and has forgotten to say good-bye. Big Ox decides to take his ward on an adventure up to the stars in his canoe pushed along by his absolute favourite spoon. They are on the search for Mummy and hope to wave hello to her from afar. There’s more to the adventure as Little One discovers along the way, allowing imagination and fantasy to lead the way.

When writing fantasy for young children, reality and imagination have to strike the right balance. After all, they love to point out the obvious as I found out in one of my reading sessions where I was questioned on how sea horses could survive on Jupiter! Working the realism of everyday life and given the number of parents who must leave their kids in childcare every day, to support their families and bring home the bacon, I used that stress as my conflict in the story and the generic child’s reaction of not knowing if Mummy is coming back. Adventure, fun and a generous dollop of imagination can help scare those worries away until Mummy returns but, it’s not always enough. Keeping the fantasy and reality in a tight balance gave the story enough drive to keep both the adults and the children absorbed in the story to find out if the duo found Mummy in the end.

Here’s a little taster of the book and the details to purchase your copy, which is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and my publishing site, Lulu.

Big Ox hugged his little friend.

“Don’t worry, Little One.

Let’s go on an adventure.

I’m sure it will be fun.”

“Where will we go?”

“Up to the stars.

We might just get to see mum

and wave to her from afar.”

With that promise

bringing a smile

to Little One’s face,

they set off in a canoe