A long serving teacher at an Ilkeston primary school has written an inspiring children’s book in memory of her dad.

The book written by Sue Law, who has worked at St Thomas’ Catholic Voluntary Academy for 27 years, is called How to Succeed.

The uplifting story revolves around three tiny seeds called Knotweed, Poison Ivy and Sunflower. A competition takes place to see who is the most powerful with Sunflower showing that true power comes from doing good.

Sue has now self-published the book through Amazon after writing it following the death of her dad, Denis Hannon, in July 2022. Denis was also a teacher, having worked in various roles, including Deputy Headteacher, for 40 years at Saint John Houghton Catholic Voluntary Academy in Ilkeston.

“Everyone loved him, he was always a joker. He really loved his poetry and I suppose that’s the skill he gave to me. There’s a photo we have of him with lots of sunflowers and that’s where the idea for the book came from. He died in the July and I wanted to write it for my mum and sisters for the first Christmas that we would be spending without him,” Sue said.

The process of writing the book didn’t take Sue long and she asked a friend’s niece, Addyson Brough, to do the illustrations.

Sue said: “I sent her the script and she created the beautiful illustrations. I couldn’t believe it when I saw them, they were just the way that I wanted them to be. When I showed my mum and sisters we were all a bit overwhelmed.”

Sue’s colleague Gemma Shelbourne, a Teaching Assistant, also created knitted toys based on the characters in the book as a surprise.

The book has now been self-published through Amazon and is available to buy. Sue’s colleagues were so impressed with her work that they are planning on using the book at St Thomas’.

“It has been a long process and there were a lot of proofs. I could have given up so many times but it just goes to show you what can happen if you keep trying. I do want to read it to the children in my class, we were thinking about using it during a pupil induction or a retreat day,” Sue said.

Pupil Favour, six, was given a sneak peek at the book along with her classmate Nancie, also six.

Favour said: “Mrs Law is very lovely and I feel lucky to have her as my teacher. I think she is really clever to write a book. I love it so much, it’s really good.”

Nancie said: “I was very surprised when I heard that Mrs Law had written a book. I think the pictures are really good and the book is really good, it’s perfect.”

You can buy the book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FJSDD5BK