In a world where children's books and toys become more inclusive all the time, children's literature still almost always mirrors the traditional school and classroom experience. In the UK over 180,000 children are home educated. As a home educator myself, I found it refreshing and admittedly surprising to come across Home Ed Fred, a story that shines a light on the unique journey of a home-educated child. A charming story in a beautifully illustrated book which embraces the diverse ways in which children learn. Home Ed Fred celebrates a learning journey less explored in children's books and provides welcome representation for home educating families.
Home Ed Fred was written by Brendan Mannion and illustrated by MollyPukes who have joined me to talk about Brendan's home education journey, writing and creating Home Ed Fred and Molly's beautifully unique illustration style.
"The book tells the story of Fred, a friendly, enthusiastic kid who meets new friends at the park. These new friends ask what school Fred goes to, and she has to explain that technically she doesn't go to school, at least not in the way they might think.
Fred goes on to explain all the ways she learns about the world, even though she doesn't go to a school like they do..."
*These pages are preliminary mock-ups intended for promotional purposes.
The team behind Home Ed Fred are running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for their first run of prints. They achieved half of their goal within the first three days! Home Ed Fred is currently a Kickstarter exclusive, which means if you don't pledge for a copy now you might be disappointed! If you support their campaign, hopefully you will eventually be able to find Home Ed Fred in bookstores. You can pledge your support from £5, and from £12 if you'd like a copy of the book once they're printed.
Lucy (L):What made you guys decide to come together and create Home Ed Fred?
Brendan (B): Home Ed Fred was an idea born out of the frustration that home educated kids are underrepresented in children's stories. My wife, Kate, and I read books to our daughter every day and night, and we noticed that there is barely any mention of kids who don't go to school. In almost every story, the characters attend school. We strongly believe that representation matters, so I decided to write a children's book featuring a home educated kid. This way, home educated children everywhere could see a reflection of their experiences in the stories they read. Additionally, parents and children who don't home educate could gain insight into a different, diverse perspective.
I must admit that I’m an eternal procrastinator. I have countless projects in mind or in the early stages of development. With a non-writing day job and the responsibilities of being a parent, I can always find a reason to delay pushing forward with a project. The real issue, though, was my lack of confidence in illustrating the story myself. Although I have some background in art, I've never worked as a professional. As a result, I found myself stuck in limbo—I had the story written but couldn’t move the illustrations beyond the sketch stage.
My wife Kate suggested that instead of letting the illustrations hold me back, I should consider enlisting a professional. She had already reached out to Molly to see if they might be interested in collaborating. When I finally took Kate’s advice and agreed, she said, "How about Molly?" We knew Molly through the art, music, and DIY community in Leeds, where our paths often crossed. We both loved their style and thought it would be perfect for Home Ed Fred.
L: Is this the first book that you've worked on? How did you find the process?
Molly (M): This isn’t the first book I’ve worked on, but what's different about this project is that it's the first to use Kickstarter to help support the project.
B: It is for me, the experience has been a steep learning curve. We haven't worked together professionally before, so each step of the way is all about communication, compromise and making sure that everyone involved is onboard for whatever the next stages are. As we are crowd funding the project in order to self publish, there is so much admin and social media work to do in the background. It has also been lots of fun to see the words I have written come to life in Molly's amazing artwork. There is nothing better than receiving drawn and coloured pages of the book to review - it feels like someone has brought your thoughts to life! I think the sense of pride I will feel when the crowd funding has been successful, and especially when I have a physical copy of the book in my hands, will be incredible.
L: What other learning curves did you come across?
B: The first draft of the book was quite one-sided. I initially approached it with some negative energy, driven by frustration over the lack of home education representation in other books. This led me to write from an "us versus them" mentality. However, as I worked through subsequent drafts, I realised I needed to let go of that mindset and focus on embracing our differences, rather than trying to show that one way is better than another. The finished book is much more about highlighting how our approaches are different, but that ultimately, we all arrive at a similar place. We share similar feelings and have similar goals. Working in collaboration with Molly has gone smoothly, Molly's illustrations always seem to capture exactly what I had in my mind. It helps to work with someone you're on a similar wavelength to.
L: What do you enjoy about home educating?
B: Firstly, I think there is a misconception that home education means sitting at home on your own and doing school work at your dining table. Home educated kids generally spend very little time at home. My wife Kate is our daughter's primary educator, and takes her to all manner of regular home education events, from forest schools, art classes, board gaming, farm school, activity groups, and more. I tend to act as taxi driver, but I also have a flexible job that means I get to join in as much as possible too. We are lucky to live in an area (Leeds/West Yorkshire) which has a strong network. Home ed means that we are there to experience her achievements and I feel that means I know her more and appreciate her more than I ever could if she were at school all day. I love the autonomy that my daughter has. I love the control she has of her own destiny, so she can lean into her strengths and pursue activities and skills that she values.
L: Brendan, you mentioned your hope that Home Ed Fred may be a good way to discuss home education with non-home educating families. I often get questions about Home education because it seems like such a different way of life to such a lot of people. Do you think people have a lot of preconceived ideas about home education?
B: 100% yes! As I’ve said before, representation really matters. It’s important for people to see themselves reflected in the media they consume, as it legitimises their lived experiences. Equally important is exposing people to diverse ways of life they may not be familiar with, to build understanding and reduce misconceptions. This was part of the journey that led to the creation of Home Ed Fred. We’ve always made sure to provide our daughter with diverse stories, toys, and resources, but there were none that covered home education.
So, with a two-pronged goal, this book aims to help home-educated kids see themselves in a story and help non-home-educated families understand that it’s not such a strange path to take. I don’t intend for the book to convert anyone, but rather to inform. If it helps someone who is considering home education believe they can do it, that would be amazing. The two main questions you hear as a home educator are, "How do they socialise?" and "I couldn’t do it." Regarding socialisation, home-educated kids spend their days interacting with children and adults of different ages, abilities, and in various environments. I believe this gives them a very diverse set of social skills.
L: I couldn’t agree more! What message do you hope that people will take away from Home Ed Fred?
M: That there is no one way of being a person or raising your child.
B: Very simply, no matter your choices in life, I hope everyone loves learning and having fun. I hope people celebrate themselves and the diversity of their own lives, and understands how it relates to others. Due to school being the norm, my daughter knows all about school, how it works, what kids do there. However, I suspect most school going kids and their parents won't know very much about home education and maybe this book will enlighten them a little and wash away some preconceived ideas
L: Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other home educated characters or home educators in TV, film, or books, I think Enola Holmes might be one, thank goodness for Home Ed Fred! Can you recommend any others or do you have any favourites?
B: Honestly, this is why we made the book. It is hard to think of any. Sarah and Duck, a cartoon on BBC was rumoured to be about a home educated girl, however I believe some of the more overt references may have been cut to make it more relatable for a wider audience. I actually pitched Home Ed Fred as an idea to CBBC's Ignite submission scheme, but was unsuccessful. In popular culture, in general, there are some great examples of home educated people, such as Billie Eilish or Simone Biles, both successful in their professions from a young age, as they have been given the space to develop and focus on their strengths.
L: Will you write more Home Ed Fred books?
M: We have discussed this, but I will let Brendan reveal more…
B: If the Kickstarter campaign is a success, and we find there is an audience for this book, then yes of course we would love to create more. There is a second book written already, but we won't get ahead of ourselves yet.
L: Molly, Is Home Ed Fred the first children's book that you've illustrated, how was the process?
M: This isn’t my first book or children’s book. The book illustrations are all finished and ready to go! Fingers crossed the Kickstarter for the project hits its goal and we’ll be able to share the finished book with you folks.
L: What was the inspiration behind the vibrant imagery used in Home Ed Fred?
M: Everyone involved was very keen to make our book as vibrant and unique as we see our city of Leeds. What mattered most to me was representing the community I live in - especially by including all sorts of diverse characters.
L: How did you choose an illustration style to compliment the book and resonate with young readers?
M: My drawing style comes naturally to me, as it’s how I enjoy to draw the most. Children are wildly creative and I think it’s something many adults forget - how to be creative and have fun! To draw is to play, to me. And we could all use a bit more playfulness in our day to day lives I reckon!
L: You're clearly a talented group of creatives! What else are you all working on?
B: Kate and I play in bands, one is a 6 piece ska band called Hot Squash, where Kate sings and I play guitar. I also play in another band, Get Human, where I am singer and guitarist. I often joke that writing kids books is very similar to writing songs, as they can have similar rhyming couplet structures and three act story arcs. I have other plans for comics and graphic novel projects, and hopefully more Home Ed Fred books too, fingers crossed!
M: I’m currently about to publish a love letter to my cat and recent kitten called ‘permanent intern’ where the two cats behave as if our home is an office. I’m also about to begin my masters degree in illustration with comics.
Please check out the Home Ed Fred Kickstarter campaign to pledge and pre-order your copy. You can also visit the Home Ed Fred Instagram page for more information and for more of Molly’s artwork you can also visit their Instagram.
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