My youngest daughter has been obsessed with lynxes since she was about four or five years old. We visited the New Forest Wildlife Park and she was immediately smitten. She has a cuddly toy lynx called Fluffball who goes everywhere with her and she loves more than life itself, in addition to several other snuggly lynxes and big cats. For Christmas the year before last she asked Santa for a lynx. We tried to manage her expectations here – it was unlikely that he would deliver on this request as a lynx would probably eat us, our pets, and trash the house. But Santa did get her an adoption of a lynx called Nymeria at the Wildheart Animal Sanctuary and we have been to visit Nymeria, her mum and brother at the Sanctuary on the Isle of Wight. So, it is safe to say that this little girl loves lynxes.
She also loves chickens. We have had chickens for several years and having them roam around our garden is a joy. They are friendly, inquisitive, and very sweet. I love sitting in the garden listening to their soft clucking. We have lost a couple of chickens which is aways sad but have also accumulated a couple more. My daughter’s first chicken was called Emily and she was a funny, characterful little thing and she is the inspiration for Mabel.
Mabel and Max came into being as bedtime stories that I would tell my daughter, combining her two favourite animals. She loved to hear about cheeky, inquisitive Mabel and sensible Max and their adventures. She enjoyed all the characters that they met along the way and enjoyed the silly voices and accents that I would put on whilst telling her these tales. She asked if I could write these stories down for her, which I did, and on one occasion she took The Search for the Silver Chicken into school and showed her teacher. The teacher read the story to the class who loved it and suggested I try and publish it. And so I did.
Hopefully you will like and enjoy the story as much as my daughter and her classmates, and allow the world of Mabel, Max and their friends to transport and envelop you too.
