Ablekids Press is a new children’s publisher established in July 2007 to promote the stories and ideas of Pauline Mackay. Our first publication, Fruit Lane, aimed at children aged 3-7, came out in November 2007 and is an introduction to the varied characters who live in this charming country lane. From Mrs Strawberry, a gardener, to Mr Grape, a mountaineer, not forgetting mischievous young Neville Orange, the stage is set for many adventures to come.

Fruit Lane offers a wealth of potential topics to discuss including numbers 1-10, colours, jobs, and animals plus one of today’s most widely debated subjects, healthy eating.

Fruit Lane began as a project for teaching French to primary school children and language learning has been the impetus behind the creation of Ablekids Press. As well as publishing books in English, we have an ambitious plan to translate as many of these as possible into Gaelic and to produce a series of bilingual books to encourage language learning among our young and very able children. Ablekids Press believes that in our modern world, knowing more than one language is not a luxury – it is a necessity!

Our next publication is due for release in March 2008. Ceum Nam Measan is the Gaelic translation of Fruit Lane and the characters and text have been specially adapted for this language.

A bilingual English/French version is scheduled for 2009. Fruit Lane will be followed by a series of 10 story books based on the characters and activity books full of tried and tested songs, crafts, colouring exercises and much more.

You can find out more about the ideas behind Fruit Lane at http://www.ablekidspress.com/ . For anyone interested in the progress of a new, independent publisher or individuals thinking of setting up their own publishing company, there is also an Ablekids Press blog which tries to give some pointers in a forwards direction. All enquiries are also welcome.