~ What's your name, Little Dragon? ~

Blurb:

 Once, there was a very strange egg. Nobody knew who it belonged to.
When a little dragon hatched from the egg, everyone was even more confused!
Unable to find the dragon's parents, the birds, bats, bugs, and all the other animals in the forest decided to work together and raise the little dragon themselves!
But there's just one thing: the little dragon doesn't know his own name.

The other animals try to help, but only a dragon can name another dragon.
But with no other dragons in the forest, the little dragon has to choose his own name.

Suddenly, the little dragon has a very big decision to make!

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A tale about self-identity, self-acceptance, and finding where you belong... and the importance of making mistakes along the way!
With a cast full of memorable characters for children and adults to love, and hand-drawn illustrations, What's your name, little dragon? is sure to become a new favourite for all ages.

Keep reading if you'd like more information about this book and series...

The Book: 'What's your name, Little Dragon?' is about a dragon who doesn't know his name. He's the only dragon in the whole forest, but all of the other little animals have big animals to look up to, who are just like them. But there are no big dragons for the little dragon to look to... 

As the little dragon struggles to accept being the only one just like him, he makes mistakes. He hurts the animals who love him, who've raised him and who have always been his friends. He thinks that if he surrounds himself with other dragons, then he'll finally know where he belongs; and maybe he'll finally get a name!

But soon, the little dragon comes to the realisation that maybe being around other dragons isn't the cure-all he thought it would be... and maybe he can choose a better name for himself than anyone else can give him.

...

This book started as a 500-word text I sent someone when I was making up stories on the spot. Originally, it was about a dragon who didn't know he was a dragon. Over time, the storyline changed and the characters changed, but the general message stayed the same: it's alright not to fit in, because it's better to be just like you, rather than just like everyone else.

The Series: 'Essentia Forest' is a series of childrens' books which address the difficulties of identifying yourself, and how scary it can be to realise you're different from everyone around you. But it also points out that most of the time, everyone else also feels like they don't fit in, like the don't belong, like they're too weird or like they're just not the same as everyone else. It's one of the things a lot of us have in common, feeling like we're different. Whether this is because of our hobbies and interests, or how we look, or how we talk, or what our family looks like, or who we enjoy being friends with, or who we find our crowd with... realising we're not the same as everyone else can be terrifying. 

'Essentia' is a Latin word, derived from the Greek 'ousia', which means 'essence'. I chose this because all of the things which make us different are the things which make us us. They're as much a part of us as the things which we have in common with everyone else. They're essential parts of us, because without them, we wouldn't be ourselves. 

The things that make us different are usually the very essense of what makes each of us ourselves.

It seemed a good name for a series set in a forest full of characters who are all just right as they are, because they're all different.

...

Every book in the Essentia Forest series has two editions: 

The first editions are a few thousand words long, and have 0 illustrations. They're all collected under the "Big, Brave Reader Edition" group, because they're aimed at children who are big and brave enough to tackle reading a book all by themselves, without any pictures to help them along. 

The second editions have much lower word counts, and come with 20+ hand-drawn illustrations. These ones all belong to the "Read Along With Me!" group, because they're aimed at tots and young children who aren't quite ready to tackle a big-kid book just yet. However, nothing about the plotline has been changed - these younger versions tell the exact same stories, with the exact same casts of beloved characters for children of all ages to adore.