Freddy the Very Adventurous Ferry
A 3-5 children's book by Rozy Abra
Illustrated by Andre Ellis
'A small town ferry with a chip on it's shoulder'.

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ISBN: 09542378-0-3 Published by Not Very Limited £5.99p Paperback

You may not know this, unless you visit Cornwall regularly enough, but Freddy is the name of the very famous Flushing Ferry that plies it's way from the sleepy town of Falmouth to the comotose village of Flushing, across the harbour. It probably gets pretty boring going back and forth each day and with luck he gets a side trip to St Mawes or Frenchman's Creek thrown in for variance. But these are pretty tame journeys in safe waters. Freddy is bound to be jealous of the fishing boats that go out in all weathers to all waters and the Scillonian - a vast boat that keeps the Isles of Scilly supplied with everything it needs.

And this is the wonderful premise of Rozy Arbra's first kids book. A small town ferry with a chip on it's shoulder. It looks at the Scillonian and wonders - is this a ferry like me? and the other ferries mock his pretensions.

'Not like you Freddy, she's a proper ferry, she's sea-going ferry, you couldn't do that'.

And Freddy slipped away, feeling very sad.
He felt ashamed, he said to himself . 'What kind of ferry can I be - if I am too small to go to sea?'

And so begins the adventure of Freddy the Ferry. He decides to go to the Isle of Scilly himself and this proves to be a very big adventure indeed.

Freddy is a metaphor that young children everywhere, nevermind in Cornwall, would understand easily. Every kid wants to grow up fast, every child wants to be bigger, smarter, older, better than what they are and Freddy is no different.

Of course Freddy can be useful. When he sneaks out of Falmouth harbour to go out onto the high seas one day he manages to rescue two kids in trouble, swimming too far out to sea. But soon, Freddy's own luck runs out and he himself is stranded out on the big rolling sea in a big storm.

Freddy is designed to be used by new readers and the text is grouped accordingly and of course can be read aloud to kids who will then enjoying staring at the cute Andre Ellis drawings. Andre Ellis is a popular artist in Cornwall and already this book is proving to be a collectors item. If you want to get hold of a copy you'll have to visit or order from one of the fine bookstores in Cornwall such as the Falmouth Bookseller or Ottakars in Truro.


Rozy Abra is a travel writer and this is her first young readers book
Andre Ellis is a local Cornish artist.

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