Ballycumber man releases second children's book

Ballycumber native Terence Casey has written a second children's book called 'Thumper Journey to Animal Haven' which follows the real-life adventures of a pet rabbit.

Terence's family's pet rabbit was given to them as a rescue and inspired the story for the new book. “Thumper, our rabbit was found by my sister-in-law out by Clara Market. He was skin and bone.”

He decided to write a story about how the rabbit ended up being dumped and abandoned. The book recounts Thumper's birth, his family life, how his siblings were taken into loving families and he experienced the opposite.

Thumper is a young rabbit who finds himself on a journey through the wilds of the Irish countryside. He encounters many dangers along the way before reaching his awaited final destination.

After being dumped on the side of the road Thumper befriends other animals along the way whilst making his way to Animal Haven.

According to Terence, the book aims to teach children about empathy towards animals including wild animals. “There's a few mini stories in it too. I like to teach kids to look around a bit more. The pet animal made his way despite everything. It's a nice fairytale ending,” said Terence.

The local man also illustrated the book by hand and used Photoshop to make them more print friendly.

'Thumper Journey to Animal Haven' is available to purchase online now at buythebook.ie and costs €10 per copy. Terence's first book 'The True Adventures of Googly Eyes' can also be purchasd on the website.

Terence, who works as a secondary school art teacher, first started writing in 2020 and released his first children's book last June.

He also has a great love for animals and nature which is something he grew up with. “I've had pigeons and canaries since I was a little child and we've just kind of grown up with hens here and guinea pigs. If there's an animal in the Rosemount area that gets injured people bring them to us.” He gives examples of a hedgehog that fell down a cattle grid and a blackbird that was stuck in barbed wire.

“For a kid, especially, to read the book, they could come into this garden and relate to everything in it because they know the hens, the guinea pigs are here. They know the neighbour's cat is over the wall and that the cat is down here the odd time prowling around. One night we saw him sticking his paw through the bars, so everything is real and relatable.”

Terence bases his stories on the animals and garden at his home where he cares for hens, pigeons, budgies, canaries, guinea pigs and fish. “All inspirations come from the garden and are based on loose truths.”

He also has a great love of music and often performs with his brother Simon Casey He released a new single called 'One More Day' which has received over 100,000 streams on Spotify. He lives in Rosemount with his wife Stephanie and children, James, Charlie and Thomas.