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When Kevin arrived in the beautiful old city of Norwich, he was expecting to be met by Dan and Leanne Fridd, the owners of Bookbugs and Dragon Tales. But to his surprise, an actual bookbug and an actual dragon were waiting for him.
“Hello!” said the Bookbug. “I’m Leanne and this is Dan.”
“Hello!” said Kevin. “I was sort of expecting you to be human beings.”
“We are!” said the Bookbug. “But we were put under a spell by a Wicked IT Consultant.”
“Oh, do they do spells now?” asked Kevin.
“This one does - she used to be a Wicked Witch, but there’s not much money in that these days, so she took a training course. Anyway, she turned me into a bookbug and Dan into a dragon.”
“So we thought the only thing for it was to open a bookshop,” said the dragon.
“Luckily,” the bookbug went on, “a Good Dog-Groomer was able to cast a counter-spell…”
“She used to be a good fairy,” explained the dragon, “but she took a training course,”
“She couldn’t undo the IT Consultant’s curse completely, but we can turn back into our human forms during opening hours - 10 am to 5.30pm most days, and 11 - 4 on Sundays.”
“Hang on,” said the dragon, checking the time on his phone. “It’s nearly 10 AM now…”
The dragon and the bookbug transformed into Dan and Leanne in a massive puff of special effects. It was very impressive, but Kevin was worried. “What about your biscuits?” he asked. “I hope those haven’t been turned into anything?”
“No, they’re fine,” said Leanne, and took him into the shop so he could interview her.
Kevin: What is the best thing about being a bookseller?
Leanne: The people (and the mostly the babies)
Kevin: What’s one way you’ve tackled a problem that your bookshop has faced during the pandemic?
Leanne: Our 1st in the world 3d virtual bookshop tour https://my.matterport.com/
Kevin: What are three books you absolutely love hand-selling to customers?
Leanne: Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession, Heart and the Bottle by Oliver Jeffers, and The Binding by Bridget Collins.
Kevin: Who is your favourite children’s book illustrator? (Other than Reeve & McIntyre…)
Kevin: What is your favourite biscuit?
Leanne: Hobnobs
Kevin: Excellent choice! Do you have a bookshop pet?
Leanne: A spider called Charlotte. We do have a bookshop dog called Hannah but she’s not allowed in the bookshop because she’s grouchy
Visit the Bookbugs and Dragon Tales website to learn more, and possibly support them by buying a book. There's a virtual tour on the website, too! You can email the shop directly to order books - leanne@bookbugsanddragontales.
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