Dream Team to replace imaginary sheep in helping kids get to sleep

CHILDREN in South Armagh that are fed up of counting imaginary sheep at night can send them back to the to the barn yard and call on The Dream Team to help transport them to the wonderful land of Nod.

The team, which consists of La La the Lanky Lama, Tiny Tilly the Caterpillar and finally Fluff the fuzzy pom pom, are on hand to lullaby any tired little one that may be experiencing an insufferable bout of insomnia into the soothing slumber of sleep with their myriad of respite inducing tried and tested tricks.

The team is the brainchild of local author and illustrator Paula Reel, who initially conjured these three bedtime characters who will give Mr Sandman a run for his money as a means of helping her own two little children get to sleep whenever they found it difficult to empty their minds at the end of a long days tribulations and fall into the wonderful oblivion of sleep.

“The Dream team is a development of a story that I and a lot of other people were told as children. Everyone back in the day were told to count sheep if they couldn't sleep. The story also developed from the fact that there would have been times when myown children found it difficult to sleep also.

“There are three characters in the book, they are called La La the Lanky Lama, Tiny Tilly the Caterpillar and Fluff the fuzzy Pom Pom.”

Paula elaborated on how it is she came to craft the eclectic and colourful cast of The Dream Team, citing the fact that like many practitioners of the craft of wordsmithing, she found the inspiration for her beloved characters from the most unlikely of sources in her own everyday life.

Inspiration

“The Dream Team is a compilation of the best elements of the stories that I would have told my children to help get them to sleep.

“ I have had the plot for the book in my notes since my first child was born nine years ago. When you have children it brings you back to the things you were told as a child by your own parents. However, because I am an illustrator first and foremost, I have always had this idea of counting sheep. I have been adding little bits and pieces to it in-between work over the years. There was no general light bulb moment, ideas would just come to you as you see and experience things.

“We live in the countryside and there is a lama in the field next to us and part of the entertainment that we would have had on a daily basis whilst we were in lockdown was that this lama would start jumping frantically. I wove this element into a story that I told my children one night whenever they couldn't sleep. This became the inspiration for La La the Lanky Lama who features in the story.

“We also noticed during the first summer of lockdown that there would have been a lot of little hairy caterpillars crawling around because we had the time to notice these things. The caterpillar also became part of the story one night as well whenever we were telling stories at bedtime. This caterpillar then went on to become Tiny Tilly in the Dream Team. The final character is Fluff, the fuzzy wuzzy pom pom. The pom pom in the story has finally escaped from the top of a woolly hat which he didn't like hanging around anymore, he wanted to be free to travel around. Fluff was inspired by the fact that my little four-year-old loved carrying a little teddy bear around and it would be under her arm the whole day. We were at my mum's one day and the children were getting woolly hats to play outside and a Pom Pom came loose from one of the woolly hats and my four-year-old loved the Pom Pom so she put it under her arm and that is where it lived for three days.

“This is how the Dream Team just gradually began to develop, we just added different characters to the stories that I told my children each night when they couldn't sleep.”

Dream Team here to get kids to sleep

Paula was keen to relate the fact that The Dream Team is has on hand with a vast repertoire of skills and strategies to lull even the most unrestful of children into the peaceful arms of respite whenever bedtime rolls around, including, but not limited to, jumping, flip flopping, somersaulting and the loop the loop.

“The plot to the Dream Team is that the team comes in whenever the imaginary sheep don't manage to get the little person to sleep after jumping until they are tired. The three characters have different methods of getting the little person to sleep and they will keep going right up until the child falls asleep and there is a party afterwards. La La the Lanky Lama will jump about until the little person has gone to sleep. Because Fluff the pom pom loves being free, he can do every kind of jump you can ever imagine, the flip flop, the somersault and the loop the loop. Tiny Tilly the caterpillar being smaller uses some help and tools to get the job done. Also being a caterpillar, she loves eating. So, she munches her way through an ice cream whilst jumping across the bed and then lands on a balloon puffed up by her friend Fluff the pom pom.”

Penning any book for publication is no small task , let alone a volume that in contrary to the goals of most writers actually aims to put the reader to sleep, however owing to Paulas impressive academic background and wide wealth of work experience she was more than well equipped to overcome this seemingly insurmountable challenge.

Styles geling well

“I attended the University of Ulster's art college in Belfast where I studied for an honours degree in Visual Communication concentrating on illustration. I then got my first design job in Wales working for Ikea, whom I was with for 11 years. In this job I would have been in charge of the graphics for all the store openings around the UK and Europe. I did a lot of travelling around the UK and Europe with IKEA store openings so this did inspire my style of graphic design. However, my illustration style would be quite the opposite of what my graphic design style would be but they gel well together in The Dream Team.

“When I had my second child, I also got into illustrating books for other people in 2018. I always wanted to illustrate children's books and I always imagined that this is what I would be doing but life takes you in all sorts of different directions, but I wouldn't be the type of illustrator I am today without all those different directions.”

Although The Dream Team are set to make their grand debut in South Armagh at the Crossmaglen Library next Friday January 20, this tantalising trio of bed time performers have had a few previews already, most notably to Paula’s own children at bedtime as well as her four year old daughters classroom colleagues who greeted La La, Tiny Tilly and Fluff with a resounding reception.

“I have read The Dream Team in my four-year-olds class and I had great feedback. I had lots of lovely questions about The Dream Team from them. They were really interested in the pictures and the jumping.

“In my experience the dream team does help my children get to sleep as well. I kept it quite fun and upbeat, so they go to sleep in a good mood, I find this helps a lot.”

Paula concluded by providing more details regarding where it is the Dream Team can be encountered in South Armagh whilst conducting their many musings and snoozings.

“The Dream Team is available from my website www.reel-illustration.com It will also be available for purchase at the Crossmaglen Library during the launch as well. I also hope to donate a book to Crossmaglen Library so if people can't purchase one, they can at least borrow a copy from the Library. It is also currently available in the following shops Creggan Farm stores, Creggan, MC'S groceries, Crossmaglen. Roe River Books Dundalk and Crafty in Castlyblayney.

The official launch of Paula’s new book The Dream Team will take place at the Crossmaglen Library at 3.30pm on Friday January 20 although booking is essential. For more details you can contact the Crossmaglen Library directly on 028 3086 1951 or send an email to crossmaglen.library@librariesni.org