Bringing The Magic in the Garden to Life

When I first started writing The Magic in the Garden, I thought I was simply making a children’s book.

But somewhere along the way, it became something much more personal.

The story began with memories of growing up in France when I was little. We lived on a farm in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by fields, woods, streams, horses, dogs, and endless summers that felt full of possibility. I remembered climbing my favourite cherry tree, swimming for hours in the garden pool, and genuinely believing there might be magic hidden amongst the flowers.

As I started illustrating the book, I realised I wasn’t just inventing a story. I was quietly rebuilding pieces of childhood.

Then something unexpected happened.

I began experimenting with animation.

Not in the traditional frame-by-frame sense, but by using simple animation tools to gently move the illustrations. Tiny drifting lights. Slow transitions. Soft movement between pages. Just enough to make the world feel alive.

At first I almost felt guilty about it, as though using new tools somehow made it less “real” creatively. But the more I worked on it, the more I realised the opposite was true.

The story is still mine.

The memories are still mine.

The artwork, pacing, atmosphere, narration, and emotion all still come from me.

The technology simply helped me explore another way of telling the story.

And honestly, seeing the illustrations move for the first time felt a little magical in itself.

Watching the fairies glow softly in the garden, or hearing the words spoken aloud while the pages gently shift on screen, has made the story feel alive in a completely different way.

I think that’s what I love most about creating books now. Stories no longer have to live in only one form. A drawing can become a moving image. A memory can become a painting. A quiet moment from childhood can become something shared.

The Magic in the Garden has become the first book in what is now growing into a series called The Hidden Magic Stories — gentle tales about nature, imagination, and the unseen magic hidden in everyday places.

The next story, The Goblins in the Woods, is already on its way.

And somewhere beyond the woods, there may already be secrets waiting in the water.

The Magic in the Garden is available now, with The Goblins in the Woods coming soon.

You can also explore more stories, illustrations, and books here on the site

If you’d like to see the story come to life, you can watch the animated read-aloud version of The Magic in the Garden below.