Larne stores to stock new book for kids

Malcolm Abbott’s The Magic Ice Cream follows his first book, Adventures of a Jackabee, written for his grandson Bobby James Patrick.

The story, which followed the adventures of a cheeky Jack Russell/beagle cross called Rocky, sold well beyond Malcolm’s expectations on Amazon and Kindle.

On hearing last year that son James and his partner Pauline were expecting another child, Malcolm decided to sit down at the typewriter once again.

“My new book has been dedicated to JulieAnn Frances, the new addition to the family born on May 31,” he said. “The Magic Ice Cream is in four parts and the story runs through each part with many drawings to colour. It is on sale now in the Whitehead Spar, the Book Nook and Apsleys in Larne and Island Stores, Islandmagee.

“The story is another one I used to tell James when he was younger; it’s about a gentleman called Mr Hawkins who lives in a small village called Blossomhill. One day it was very hot and all the people of the village wished that they could have some ice-cream, but everyone had to go to the next village which was about ten miles away. An old cross man called Mr Poke owned the ice-cream shop there.

“He made everyone wait and wait in the hot sun before he would give them any ice-cream. One day Mr Hawkins found his granny’s recipe for ice-cream and made it himself; not realizing it had magic powers. Join the fun as strange things happen, and old Mr Pokey Nose, as the kids call him, tries to steal the secret recipe.”