Daughters' inspiration is bottom line for writer

AWARD-WINNING Edinburgh children's author Lari Don was playing on a Scottish beach with her two daughters making shapes in the sand when a "bottom print" provided inspiration for her new picture book.

"It struck me that a bottom print was a really funny idea, so I sat on the beach making up the story as my girls kept digging for treasure," she says.

In The Big Bottom Hunt two children spot a telescope abandoned on the beach next to a bottom print in the sand. They decide to find the owner by tracing the bottom print and asking everyone in the village if it is their bottom.

This is not the first time that Lari's children have inspired her work. Her youngest daughter Gowan inspired Lari's debut children's novel First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts, which won the 2009 Royal Mail Award for Younger Readers.

The Big Bottom Hunt is the first picture book for Leith-based author Lari and illustrator Gabby Grant. Lari found working with an illustrator was an exciting experience. "It was a joy to see the story, the children and the bottoms come to life."

The Big Bottom Hunt is one of three books launching the Picture Kelpies, the new Scottish children's picture book range from Floris Books.

• Lari and fellow Picture Kelpies authors Margaret Forrester and Angus Corby will appear at Waterstone's West End on Saturday, 15 May from 1pm. The Big Bottom Hunt is published by Floris Books at 5.99.