Scottish Author Spotlight: Lindsey Millar
This post contains gifted items. All view are our own.
It’s Book Week Scotland! What better time to shine a spotlight on a local Scottish author, who recently reached out to me asking if we would review her picture books and help spread the word. We love championing Scottish authors, so of course we were more than happy to oblige.
Lindsey Millar is a writer and scientific editor living on the east coast of Scotland. She is passionate about sharing her love of science and is also keen to promote Scotland’s unique culture, particularly that of its remote islands. Having spent many university holidays of my student years volunteering and working on Iona, a tiny island in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, this immediately struck a chord with me.
The Lonely Lighthouse Bogle
Lindsey sent us two of her books to review, both in collaboration with illustrator Vivien Sarkany, but both very different. Firstly, staying with the Scottish islands for the moment, there’s The Lonely Lighthouse Bogle.
A bogle is a Scots term for a ghost. The bogle in this rhyming story lives in the lighthouse on Scalpay-by-the-Sea. Scalpay is an island in the Outer Hebrides, and home to Eilean Glas, one of Scotland’s oldest lighthouses. Whether is has a bogle in real life too is unknown. But back to the story! Our bogle is moaning and mooching with loneliness because no one can see him, until he finds a message in a bottle on the beach.
It’s from another lonely lighthouse bogle, from Sanday-by-the-Sea. Sanday is the third largest of the Orkney Islands, and home to the Start Point Lighthouse. The two bogles become penpals, and eventually the Sanday bogle comes to Scalpay for a visit. The pair do all kind of fun things together, like snorkling in the bay, visiting Inverness, and learning to play the bagpipes – no longer lonely, sad and glum.
This is a beautiful wee story all about friendship, peppered throughout with Scots words for children to get introduced to, and featuring real life Scottish locations. It’s all you could want for in a Scottish children’s picture book. The perfect pick for Book Week Scotland! As a bonus, there’s also a tiny spider to spot on every page, getting up to all kinds of antics. And at the back of the book, you’ll find some extra info about the two lighthouses and the important roles that they fulfill. Sales of the book support the Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust. If you’re looking for a Scottish themed gift for any children in your life, then we’d definitely recommend this book. Reading age is approximately 3-7, but myself and my 9 year old still really enjoyed it too.
Wonderful World of the Small
The second book focuses on Lindsey’s other love – science. With a degree in microbiology, the book’s title comes as no surprise: that Wonderful World of the Small – A First Book of Microbiology. It might strike you as an unusual subject for a picture book, but my younger son has always favoured fact over fiction books, so we were both excited to read this.
The story takes you down a microscope lens – whoosh! There, you meet all kinds of different microorganisms, including Bertie Bacterium, Agnes Alga, Yuri Yeast, Anneka Archaeon, Nigel Nematode, Verity Virus, Axel Amoeba, Felicity Fungus, Pedro Paramecium, and Silvia Slime Mould. Each is introduced in a fun and interesting way, with real life facts paired with cute illustrations.
It’s a playful and engaging introduction in to a world brimming with life, that is invisible to the naked eye. Reading age is approximately 5-8, but there’s plenty there to hold the attention of older readers too – including grown ups! I certainly learned a few new things myself. It’s a perfect gift for budding young scientists and children interested in the world around them. No wonder it’s won a prize for best non-fiction picture book!
Both The Lonely Lighthouse Bogle and Wonderful World of the Small are available to purchase from Amazon (affiliate links). Whether you’re looking to discover a new author during Book Week Scotland, looking for a Scottish gift, or getting a head start o n your Christmas shopping, do keep Lindsey and her books in mind. We loved reading them both and would definitely recommend them.
Disclosure: We were gifted copies of The Lonely Lighthouse Bogle and Wonderful World of Small in exchange for an honest review. All views are our own. If you make a purchase via the Amazon affiliate links, we will receive a small donation at no extra cost to you.
