A West Lothian children’s book publisher has picked up a prestigious award less than a year after releasing their first title.
PMGJ Storybooks was named the Prestige Scotland Children’s Book Retailer of the Year 2021/2022.
The company which comprises author Paul Walsh and illustrator Graeme Young launched in November last year with their kids’ book, ‘Fash, Chaps n’ Banz’.
And the award coincided with the release of their new book, ‘The McScarf’s’ which has already been snapped up by many families in West Lothian.
Paul and Graeme are also about to launch their promo video which will be available on PMGJ Storybooks’ Facebook Instagram pages which was shot in Princes St Gardens in Edinburgh.
Paul explained: “We managed to pull in nationalities from all around the world to read their book with the backdrop of the castle in shot.
“We had a fair mix of children and adults who embraced the Scot’s language, some were fantastic at reading Scots for the first time.
“We had Brazilians, Germans, Latvians, Irish, English, Chinese and a few others – it was truly diverse and exactly in line with what we’re trying to achieve with The McScarf’s – a showcase of how diverse and multi-cultural our nation really is.”
The Prestige Awards were launched to celebrate the businesses and individuals that consistently offer excellent products and services to local residents, expats and tourist visitors alike.
The judging panel base their decisions upon areas such as service excellence, quality of the product/service provided, innovative practices, value, ethical or sustainable methods of working, as well as consistency in performance.
The winners selected are those who can best demonstrate their strengths in these areas. All winners are featured in a celebratory awards magazine, published both digitally and in print, which is circulated to Prestige subscribers.
Paul continued: “PMGJ Storybooks won Children’s Book Retailer of the Year for Scotland based upon our growing range of fun-filled, family focussed storybooks.
“Our work in the local community, supporting a range of charities was also noted when we were informed of the win.”
]]>The story follows a quirky family as they embark on a Friday night dinner that will change their lives forever! As Father realises what Mother is cooking, he starts to sing a hilarious and catchy song. The song is infectious, with the rest of the family joining in and singing along too.
Then out of nowhere, they hear a loud knock at the door from Snazzy Lady, the Record Producer, who wants to turn their song into a hit for the radio.
The Family dress up as rock and pop stars throughout the decades and have their hit song ready for the World to listen to.
To date, the book has been a great local success for PMGJ Storybooks, based in West Lothian, Scotland.
"They have found a niche' in the storybook market, allowing all families to relate to their somewhat hilarious ways of spending time as a group. And, as each parent who inevitably reads the bedtime story, find themselves singing a song with what sounds like some made up words. It's a feel good story, pulling upon the dream of being a popstar whilst maintaining the reality of everyday, family life" explains James Welsh (Author & Grandparent).
So off pops our writer, Paul, to showcase his creative talents for our youngest of budding writers and illustrators. Perhaps even to a school near you...
Want to buy the book? Go to: www.pmgjstorybooks.com
]]>Whilst we’ve only been operating as a small storytelling business for 6 months (if not less) it was exactly the boost we needed this week.
Our credibility as a storytelling duo has increased and with that has an even bigger audience for our wonderful illustrated and comedic books.
As we realign our focus, we’ve managed to finish the writing of TWO stories this week! One aimed at our 4-9 age audience and the other, our first venture into baby and toddlers. We’ve also decide to really focus on our Scottish roots for the baby one, and we think it’s going to be brilliant!
We look forward to sharing our journey with you soon! Meanwhile, we’ve a great deal on over this weekend running up to Sunday 21st February 2021 where we’re giving away free artwork with every sale of JumJum.
Speak to you all soon!
]]>But we’ve still made it work, launching two wonderfully unique children’s stories with reasonable sales behind the. On reflection it’s made us think about the “what if’s”...
What if the pandemic never happened, where would we be? Would it have pushed us to create our business or would we trundle along being caught up with the normal distractions in life?
No matter what, we are where we are. Are we are continuing to work hard, break down barriers and create wonderful stories for children and their families to enjoy for years to come.
With our new adventure storybook gathering so much pace we wanted to give our followers a very early sneaky peak!
It’s fun, imaginative and has an awesome new song to sing along to! We’re still a long way from publishing, but it’s very exciting progress. We’ve proven to ourselves that we are able to create and achieve whilst operating with one arm tied behind our backs, which isn’t easy when trying and illustrating.
February 12th 2021
Paul Walsh / Graeme Young
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