Daily Mail, Monday, August 12, 2019EVERY STORY HAS THE
RIGHT TO BE TOLD
A huge turning point in my life was
when I had my daughter, Amelie, in 2008.
I read to her from the start; she couldn’t
understand the words but, as she got
older, I wanted to buy books for her that
reflected what our family was like.
Amelie is dual-heritage and I’ve been a
solo parent all of her life — I don’t like
the term single parent, there are
negative connotations, solo parent is
more empowering. I knew early on in my
pregnancy I would be raising her alone.
I noticed that there weren’t many
children’s books that showed familiesThe one
lesson I’ve
learned
from life
Cerrie Burnell
TV presenter
like ours, or children like her. We went
on holiday to Barbados and I thought:
‘great, they’ll be loads of books with
little girls that look like my daughter.’
But even there, they were all about
white families.
ultimately, it inspired me to become a
writer: I wanted to put my daughter in
the story.
When I started presenting CBeebies,
there were lots of negative comments
about me online. My right arm ends just
below my elbow — I was born that way
— and some parents were in uproar
about a visibly disabled presenter on
the TV.
I wasn’t upset by the comments. But it
reminded me how I hadn’t seen some-
one like myself in story books when I
was growing up, either.
I’ve written ten children’s books now:
some picture books for younger kids,
some novels for older children. There
are dual-heritage characters, characters
with disabilities, families that are all
different shapes and set-ups.
It’s important for children to know you
don’t have to be white, able-bodied and
from a nuclear family to be worthy of
being in a book.
I’ve learnt that the stories we tell our
children are powerful when they connect
with a character. Stories are fuel for your
mind, but also for your self-esteem.
O Cerrie is a patron of The Story
Museum in Oxford (storymuseum.org.uk)
Interview: HANNA WOODSIDECerrie Burnell, 39, is an
actress, children’s author, and former
CBeebies presenter. Her most recent
novel, The Girl With The Shark’s
Teeth, was published this year.
She lives in london with her
daughter, Amelie.ANSWERS
1 TRUE
The ‘Caribbean Carnival’, as it was then
called, was organised by Trinidadian
human rights activist Claudia Jones and
held at St Pancras Town hall in 1959. The
first outdoor carnival was in 1966.
2 D. George Michael
BuT the pop star did record some of his
biggest hits at Sarm Studios in Notting
hill. george Orwell has a blue plaque
outside his former home at 22 Portobello
Road. george Osborne grew up in NottingPage 41ORANGE
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3 C and D
ON SeT, grant complained that Roberts’
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4 A. Madonna
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5 A and C.
RAChel JOhNSON’S first novel was
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6 TRUE
The bear lives at 32 Windsor gardens, a
large, semi-detached house near Portobello
Road Market. The real-life Windsor gardens
is council housing with no number 32.
ETAN SMALLMANPicture: WIREIMAGEPicture: PAKO MERA/REX