Every Tuesday, get to know a bit about the stories behind the books you love, and discover your next favourite novel.

Sabitha: We’ve got Macy Lewis here, telling us about her children’s book Nigel and The Festival of Flames. Macy, can you introduce us to your book?

Macy: I wrote my Nigel and The Festival of Flames to help children learn that being different is what makes us unique, which is something we shouldn’t feel nervous about. It also teaches them to be kind and kindness can be difficult to find these days.

Nigel the dragon is competing in the Festival of Flames, but he can’t throw his flames as high as the other dragons can because he’s smaller than the other dragons. When Nigel takes a walk, he meets Princess Rakella, can she convince Nigel to return to the Festival of flames and try again?

Sabitha:  Which character do you relate to the most and why?

Macy: I relate to Nigel because I’m blind and sometimes, I don’t think I can do things that sighted people can do, but when I talk with friends or my family, they always encourage me to try and more often than not, I’m able to find a way to do what I have wanted to do. I think we all need a little encouragement like Princess Rakella does for Nigel, and it’s such a beautiful thing to watch as the story unfolds.

Sabitha: What do you love about the writing process?

Macy: I love writing children’s books because it’s a challenge. I always feel like I must captivate children with the first lines of my story, so they’ll want to continue reading my books. I couldn’t have written Nigel without my editor Emily. She’s the one who gave Nigel’s text the rhyming rhythm that everyone loves so much.  My illustrator, Miara, hand painted each one of the pictures, and I think they turned out absolutely beautiful. I knew I wanted Nigel to be light blue, but I let Miara do what she wanted with everything else and create her own vision when she read the text.

Sabitha: That sounds really sweet and meaningful. Thank you for sharing. Where can the Night Beats community find you and your book?

Macy: They can find my books at their favorite online bookstore, but here’s my Amazon author page. They can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.