A Crickhowell author has raised more than £1000 for two children’s charities following the launch of her new book.

The Fairy who lived in a Pop Can, written by Suzan Ruben-Alderton from Crickhowell, raised the impressive total for the Batten Disease Family Association and Young Lives vs Cancer

The story is about a little girl called Betty and a quirky fairy called Flo. It’s heartwarming and a little sad - but will definitely make you smile. The book aims to encourage children to be environmentally friendly, to take pride in their communities, and to make sure all insects, small animal and of course fairies have a safe and beautiful place to live.

Suzan explained: “I wanted to tell a positive story about nature but now the book has two positive outcomes, promoting awareness of biodiversity among children and fundraising for sick children and their families.”

Suzan is delighted that the local primary school wishes to use the book as part of their ‘How can we care for our environment?’ project and hopes that other primary schools in the UK will follow suit.

Last Friday’s launch event was held at Crickhowell’s Book-ish, which saw dozens of people queue up to meet Suzan and get their hands on a copy of the book.

Suzan would like to thank everyone who came along and bought a book, or several books, as in some cases!

She added that it was particularly flattering that adults are buying the book to keep for themselves.

The book sales previous to the launch and on the evening have reached over £1,000.

“It was amazing,” said Suzan. “I was totally overwhelmed by the turn-out and delighted at the same time. It was more successful than I could ever have wished for.”

It was welcome surprise to have both of the book’s illustrators at the launch event, Suzan decided to keep their appearance a secret until the evening.

The two talented illustrators, Polly Allburn and Naomi Bennet, spoke of their experiences collaborating with Suzan on the book.

Suzan encouraged everyone to have the two illustrator’s signatures added to her own.

“I don’t know if that has ever been done before, said Suzan. “But I think everyone thought it was a great idea - what a fantastic evening!”

The net profits will be donated to Batten Disease Family Association and Young Lives vs Cancer.

Suzan would like to say a huge thank you to Emma at Book-ish, who organised the event and who is stocking the book at Book-ish Crickhowell and Abergavenny.

Book-ish and all the other bookshops have waived their commission to support Young Lives vs Cancer and Batten Disease Family Association.

Book can be ordered online here and are also available from The Hours Cafe & Bookshop, Brecon and various other good bookshops. To find a bookshop near you please email: [email protected] or order direct from Book-ish.

The huge turn-out at the event was due to the media coverage by Tim Jones, As You See It Media Ltd.

Suzan has thanked Tim and his crew for all your hard work - Tim also waived his fees to support both charities.