Ohhh My, Strawberry Monkey! The Evolution Of An Idea To A Published Book, Preschool Website & A Brand. A Story Of How Far You Can Go With Hard Work And A Little Determination.

I’m Allan Thompson, creator of preschool website mystrawberrymonkey.com and illustrator/author of the ‘Ohhh My, Strawberry Monkey!’ children’s picture book series, which is based around the cutest and clumsiest little monkey in the preschool and early years world, Strawberry Monkey! The project originally had just two characters, Strawberry Monkey and his big sister Betty, but soon grew into 19.

Including positive role models was important to me. I remember reading an article about diversity and female characters in children’s literature and that had a massive impact on the direction of this project. There are now 10 female characters, one of whom is a Dr. I want young girls and boys growing up to be inspired and show them that they can be whoever they want. I have also been influenced by my diverse surroundings living in London with such a multicultural society and that has been reflected with the design of the characters to promote unity, equality, positivity and diversity.

At the heart of the community is a foster home overseen by Mummy & Daddy Monkey and where children from all over the world are welcomed, hence why you don’t see parents for some of the characters. The original idea was that this cute, pink monkey ends up in some tricky situations, hence the phrase ‘Ohhh My!’ Fortunately, he has his friends and big sister around to help him out. The situations he ends up in are teachable moments, which is what the first book focuses on. The books are designed to help children understand that it’s ok to make mistakes, as long as we learn from them and from Betty’s perspective, that we should support those around us, help them and teach them where we can. The books are aimed at preschoolers, age 2+ and big kids like me of course.

Where did it all start? Well, wanting to escape the rat race of life, I made the decision to go part time from an amazing and well paid job and I started to freelance as a video editor/motion graphics designer and logo/web designer. My Strawberry Monkey was the name I came up with for my company and the monkey design became my logo. At first it was just a head, but he soon developed in to a full character and the catchphrase; “Ohhh My, Strawberry Monkey!” came to life. It was meant to be a play on the phrase ‘you cheeky little monkey’ and of course, that’s what he is! I didn’t realise at the time that a book series would be created nor did I have any initial desire to create one, but I’ve managed to utilise those skills I had as a freelancer for this project and probably saved over 30k learning and doing this by myself.

After creating the first character the goal was to produce a weekly comic strip that I could post on Instagram which would feature witty one-liners from Strawberry Monkey. I think I posted about nine images before I gave up—so much for my “weekly comic strip”. It was around this point I thought I would have a better reach aiming this at the preschool/early years world and the characters grew and I used those first few posts to develop the initial idea for a book.

After a year or so of going back and forth with the idea, hours and hours of reading, research, sweat and tears, I decided to publish the books myself on Amazon. Why? Some thought I was crazy, but, I wanted full control of my idea, I wanted to publish on my terms. The idea of sending a word doc to a publisher, hoping they’ll get back to you (most will never by the way) and then publish on their terms, two or three years later really didn’t appeal to me. I now have a website and two books on Amazon. The website has some fun activities and games on there for children to learn, grow and develop and the site will continue to grow as new material will be added over time.

As I look back and reflect, yes it’s been a struggle, yes I’m just one guy locked away in a tiny little room with his MacBook Pro a few apps and a few skills, competing against, what feels like the world. But, I’ve created and achieved more in a few years by myself than I probably would have done going down the traditional route. It’s been an amazing experience, I’ve learned a lot and more about myself than expected.

Some of the many highlights of this journey have been meeting Theo Paphitis and receiving pictures from parents of their kids and my books and the appreciation for creating free activities which has kept their kids busy especially during the worst part of the Covid-19 lockdown. Next steps are to create the clothing range, more greetings cards and I’m already putting ideas together for the next book.

More info: mystrawberrymonkey.com

The first page of the desktop version of the website. You can also search for 'My Strawberry Monkey' on social media.

Nobody loves spending time in the sun more than Strawberry Monkey.

Now whilst this may seem normal, remember this is Strawberry Monkey and well, sometimes he overdoes things. What is going to happen to him? Will he learn?

Learn to count with Strawberry Monkey and his friends. Your own cheeky little monkeys will love the bright and colourful pictures as we learn to count, discover colours & understand shapes. Why not look around you and at everyday objects to see what new shapes and colours you and your cheeky little monkeys can discover!

One of many highlights! Winning an award and meeting Dragon's Dens very own Theo Paphitis.

How cute would this t-shirt look on your own cheeky little monkey? Next step, working on the My Strawberry Monkey clothing range!

Find the perfect greeting card for any occasion with our fantastic range of cards from My Strawberry Monkey. Why not mark the occasion with the cutest little characters in the preschool world.