“There is a Monster in my Toy Box” is the first children’s story I have made into a picture book for children aged 6 to 8.I wrote this book for a children’s poetry competition which has since been adapted to a music video for TikTok.

My story tells of a monster (real or imagined) living in a child’s toy box. It could be used as a metaphor for a child who is using the monster to enable them to get away with perceived bad or attention seeking behaviour by deflecting blame, so that's the punchline or hook.

It is part of a collection of stories with “George and the Gobble de Gook Monster” being the introduction to this world, and I have even written a seasonal Christmas version, “There’s a Monster Under my Christmas Tree” in which the story resolves with the family becoming friends with the monster.

As an autistic writer with schizo-affective disorder, I have an idealistic view of the world and find things a severe mental challenge. This made me want to express myself and so I found the mischievousness of children endearing. I believe the idea for, “There’s a Monster in my Toy Box” carries the motifs of nostalgia as everyone has been a ‘challenging child’ at some point in their childhood!