The schoolboy entrepreneur who caused a stir when he started his own business at the age of nine now hopes to become a best-selling author.
Henry Patterson, now 10, has written the first in a series of children’s stories featuring the imaginary helpers in his children’s sweets and gifts business Not Before Tea (www.notbeforetea.co.uk).
Pip Gets a Job tells the story of Pip the mouse and his quest to find a job suitable for a young rodent at the little shop on the corner. Pip suffers a number of setbacks, most as a result of his size, but refuses to give up until he finds the perfect job.
Henry says: “All my friends love writing stories, but it’s brilliant to see one turned into a proper book.”
The beautifully illustrated book with its cast of animal characters harks back to traditional children’s stories. Pip, his friend Sherb the owl, the mysterious and grumpy Billy the cat and Bubbles, the cheerful goldfish all feature in the first story in the series. Their adventures take place under the watchful eye of shopkeeper Mrs Pinny.
Henry’s original story is brought to life by the work of young illustrator Becky Down – her first book commission since graduating from university last year.
Becky says: “Henry had a very clear vision of the personality of each character and knew exactly what he wanted. I even had a life model for Billy, which is based on Henry’s own cat, who is every bit as grumpy as the Billy in the book.”
This is not strictly Henry’s first venture into publishing. At the age of seven, he wrote and illustrated Tad Learns to Swim, a story about a tadpole’s struggles to adapt to life in a pond.
But Henry acknowledges that his first book was hampered by production setbacks. “Tad was written by hand, so I only had one copy,” he admits.
Keen to find a bigger audience for his second work, Henry sought the help of a local printing firm based in Stevenage. The company, Berforts Information Press invited Henry to spend a day at its premises finding out how books are made and helped with the technical parts of the process.
The book is available as a hardback – rrp £6.99. Also available as an ebook.
‘ Henry has already had over 400 pre-publication orders’ for Pip Gets a Job ahead of the official launch on 14 August at department store, Bentalls, Kingston.
About Henry
Henry’s interest in business started at the age of four, with a venture selling bags of manure to passing motorists outside his house.
In 2013, he started Not Before Tea, a company selling sweets and children’s gifts including his flagship product ‘Mud and Worms’, combining chocolate raisins and jelly worms. That year Henry was named “one to watch” at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Henry is the youngest member of the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce in the organisation’s 137-year history.
Henry’s story has featured in the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Times and the Sunday Times, the Guardian, among many others.
In May this year he was interviewed by Forbes, the leading US business magazine.
Henry is also the youngest businessperson ever to appear on CNBC’s flagship morning business programme Squawk Box Europe.
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