Mum who was made redundant writes festive children's book about coronavirus

ITV Granada Reports' entertainment correspondent Caroline Whitmore went along to meet author Danielle Corrigan.

A regular mum-of-two, Danielle Corrigan lives with her family in Saddleworth in Greater Manchester.

Up until December 2019, when she was made redundant, Danielle enjoyed a career in learning and development, creating fun and experiential training courses for the workplace.

In her love for being creative, she has always enjoyed writing fun stories and poems. 

Whilst at home during the first lockdown she took the opportunity to write and publish her first book, The North Pole Lockdown.

It's a fun, bold and unforgettable children's story of how the North Pole came together, even though they had to stay two meters apart.

She told ITV Granada Reports: "I'm just a mum-of-two who was at home with the kids.

"After being made redundant I just thought i'd give writing a go- the North Pole lockdown was a perfect way to capture all those important memories we had so that my kids could look back in years to come."

After the success of the book - which reached the top 10 in Amazon's Children's christmas books - she continued her journey as an author and has gone to release a number of titles, including The North Pole Lockdown 2. 

The fun follow on story is perfect for Christmas 2021 and sees The North Pole setting up a world-class vaccination programme.

Both stories capture key moments of the global pandemic but in a fun, festive and feel-good way.

Danielle has been spreading some festive cheer by volunteering her time by delivering face to face and virtual book readings and Q&A sessions with schools. She read her book to the children at Werneth Primary School in Oldham

"Last year I did lots of virtual ones", remembers Danielle. "I'm hoping to inspire the children to go away and write their own stories"

Vice principal and reading lead, Sarah Chandler at Werneth Primary School said: "Books are always special to children here at Werneth Primary School, but what Danielle's done is really quite unique.

"It offers an unparalleled opportunity for children to speak out about their emotions and their feelings that they've had during lockdown.

"We now have 450 pupils who all want to be authors, which is absolutely fantastic."

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