A Woy Woy publisher has transformed her experience of building a house into a children’s novel about tradies – all from the perspective of two mischievous dogs.
Fiona Schultz has had her holiday house at Woy Woy for the past 10 years, but recently tore it down and rebuilt with local builder Coolibah Building & Design.
It wasn’t long after the build that inspiration struck for her next book, My Dad’s a Tradie – the adventures of two dogs as they help to build a house.
Schultz said she created the two characters after seeing her builder’s dogs come to the work site each day.
“I found it interesting that Chris’ [Scaife] dogs loved being around tradies so much,” Schultz said.
“Missy is an experienced dog, she’s nine, so she’s been on work sites a while, whereas Beefy is still a puppy.
“Missy was told by her dad that she had to look after her baby brother on the work site, but he kept getting into trouble.
“Beefy gets in the way of the painters, he knocks things over, he gets super excited when he sees other people and because he’s so big, he knocks the tiler off the ladder.”
The book begins with the dogs visiting each tradie to see what they are working on, but soon disaster strikes as Beefy becomes too excited and starts to cause problems on the site.
The New Holland publisher said Missy and Beefy’s owner loves the idea of the book, with many of his tradies’ kids always asking about what their dad does at work.
“You build a house and you learn so much about tradies, but we’ve done it from a dog’s perspective to help teach children in a fun way,” Schultz said.
My Dad’s a Tradie is now available to purchase online or at any major bookshop.
Maisy Rae