Festival inspired kids’ book about facing fears

A WRITER from Fingest has published her second children’s picture book.

Lucy Tandon Copp has written Logan’s Lantern, inspired by her experiences of motherhood as well as a traditional Chinese festival.

Lucy, whose father is English and whose mother is Malaysian-Chinese, had her first picture book, A Love as Full as the Moon, published in August.

“A key time stamp in that story is the mid-autumn Moon Festival, that’s towards the traditional harvest time of the year in September,” she says.

“Whereas this book, Logan’s Lantern, focuses on a Lunar New Year celebration.

“Lunar New Year has become a sort of catch-all term for various East and South East Asian New Year celebrations.

“The Lunar New Year celebration that I’m talking about in this book is actually Chinese New Year and that’s the one that I am most familiar with, but there are all sorts of different ones. In different countries in East and South East Asia there are loads of different points of uniqueness around each festival.”

Lucy, 36, who is married with two daughters, aged seven and five, and a (not-so) miniature schnauzer named Moose, noticed that there weren’t many stories written for or about children of mixed-heritage, dual-heritage background, especially those similar to her own. She says: “Logan’s Lantern essentially takes place on the 15th day of Lunar New Year and it’s the lantern festival, a specific marker in the Chinese celebrations.

“It is about a little boy called Logan who makes this adorable sweet little dragon lantern to take to the lantern festival.

“When he steps outside on to his porch, he realises that he’s no longer holding his lantern anymore, he’s actually holding the hand of a real little dragon.

“So, his lantern comes to life and his little dragon is sort of afraid. Logan asks him, ‘What’s the matter?’ and he says, ‘Oh, well, actually I’m afraid of the dark’, and so begins this journey into the unknown.

“They embark on a night-time adventure together where they are overcoming Little Dragon and Logan’s fear of the dark and the question is will they be rewarded by their bravery and get to enjoy the full festivities?” Lucy began writing her first children’s book shortly after the birth of her second daughter. “The inspiration behind this story specifically comes from a slightly different place,” she says.

“When I wrote the first draft, we were just really coming out of lockdown and also quite a dark winter in the UK. I remember retreating to my desk where I found that storytelling was really providing me with a lot of joy and light out of quite a dark time.

“I started my first book on my second maternity leave and by this point my children were still quite little, I think it was maybe six months later that I started working on the first draft of Logan’s Lantern, and I was really in awe and wonder of motherhood.

“Obviously it’s very difficult being a mum but it’s also absolutely incredible.

“I think I was absolutely in awe of the bond between mother and child and how innate that felt and just completely natural.

“At the time I sort of had this desire really to explore that relationship between mother and child and child and comfort zones.

“I really wanted to write a story about that special bond and that really simple act of holding hands with your child. I found it really fascinating how holding hands became such a part of my experience as a mother.

“So, Logan and Little Dragon hold hands throughout the story and, as Little Dragon gains in confidence, he holds Logan’s hand a little bit less tightly and then less tightly still. Then towards the end he really actually consciously lets go and that’s the culminating moment when little dragon slides away into the night sky and fulfils his destiny as a lantern.”

Logan’s Lantern is being published by Bloomsbury. “It’s illustrated by an incredible illustrator, she’s called Ya-Ling Huang, also known as Jade.

“I was absolutely thrilled when Bloomsbury suggested Ya-Ling because she has created real magic on the page, so it’s really beautiful.

“Obviously East and South East Asian (ESEA) representation is important to me and I really wanted to shine a light on this beautiful festival.

“In my mind, I felt as though the lantern festival was sort of made for a picture book, I could just see the beauty of the light and the dark and the colour and the excitement of being outside at night as a child all coming together in this very visual way.”

Ya-Ling Huang will be at the Bell Bookshop on January 14, where she will be painting Little Dragon on to the windows.

Lucy will be at the London Museum Docklands on February 21 and 22, where she will be talking about the book and doing a draw-along activity.

l Logan’s Lantern, by Lucy Tandon Copp, will be published on Thursday, January 1. It is available to pre-order from the Bell Bookshop, or direct from www.bloomsbury.com/uk/logans-lantern-9781526669506