{"id":763,"date":"2026-03-15T11:51:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T11:51:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/?page_id=763"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:18:18","slug":"extras-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/?page_id=763","title":{"rendered":"Author Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

World Book Day March 2025<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Author excerpt from book \"Rescue\", prepared for a junior school who had the theme \n\"The Dragon who lived under the school\" for 2025 world book day.<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Transcript of author reading video\n<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

SHEDU<\/h4>

An excerpt from Rescue, Book 5 of Wizards of White Haven. NB this is an Age 16+ book.<\/h5>
NB. Tania is a young dragon.<\/h5>

After spending time watching some of the animus kids playing out in the field, and shifting into a whole range of different animals, it got Tania thinking as to what her limitations were. Jim had told her that no-one could tell a person what those limits were; a teacher could only act as a guide. In essence everyone had to find out for themselves and that was a curious proposition. Excited, she decided it\u2019d be fun to experiment. She\u2019d already successfully shifted into a different shape, with her human form, could she be something else?<\/p>

Since Amelie was often in panther form, Jim a lion and Natalya a tiger, trying to become a cat seemed logical. She\u2019d curiously watched every time an animus shifted, since it was a new skill to her, and had noticed the flare of concentrated and focused magical energy it took. The key seemed to be to visualise the new form, entirely and in precise detail, especially the first time.<\/p>

As she and Aunty Natalya walked by the lake, she decided to take the opportunity and asked if she would shift into her tiger. Tania watched closely, and with a template in front of her, gave it a try. Shimmering, she felt the magic settle. She was not her dragon, but was definitely in a four-footed shape. Natalya\u2019s shocked and rather apprehensive stare had her hurrying to the lake to look at her image. The result was not what she\u2019d expected. \u2018What have I become?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018I\u2019m not sure,\u2019 Natalya admitted in amazement. \u2018I think you\u2019ve kept some of your dragon.\u2019 Tania had certainly become a very unusual feline. Rather than a tiger\u2019s gold and black stripes, Tania was striped in blue and black. Her head was a little longer than usual for a tiger, mainly to contain a deadly looking mouthful of long sharp teeth, although her muzzle wasn\u2019t as long as her dragon\u2019s. Her paws were correct, although the retracting claws seemed unusually long and the tail was correct, with a fluffy tip. However, aside from the colour and the giant ten foot tall size, the most un-catlike feature was the fact she had large wings. Was that how her dragon\u2019s wings were? Something was different. Ah, these wings were feathered and her dragon\u2019s wings were leathery.<\/p>

\u2018I thought the magic didn\u2019t allow someone to assume a non-real shape?\u2019 Tania asked in dismay.<\/p>

\u2018Oh, it\u2019s possible to mess it up, but usually it takes strength and determination to keep features that aren\u2019t natural. Of course, you\u2019re not human so the usual rules of limitation might not apply.\u2019 Natalya walked around Tania examining the amazing transformation in greater detail. \u2018Nothing feels or looks contrived or forced with your shape. You look just as dangerous in this form as your dragon,\u2019 she added with a rueful shake of her head. \u2018Right, shall we test this?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018How?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Can you change your colour, perhaps lose the stripes to be one shade like a lion?\u2019<\/p>

Tania concentrated and a moment later, opened her eyes to Natalya. \u2018Did it work?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Did you visualise a mane?\u2019 Nayalya asked, surprised for a moment that the creature didn\u2019t have one. However, tigers didn\u2019t have a mane and only male lions did. Tania was female and so it was right to be without.<\/p>

\u2018No. You said to be a single colour. What did I do?\u2019 Tania looked down at her chest and front legs to see they were no longer striped, but her usual blue. She growled in exasperation; she hadn\u2019t managed to be the cat gold colour she\u2019d hoped for. Hearing a small sound she whirled, immediately alert.<\/p>

Freddie stopped, staring at the enormous and terrifying predator standing far too close to his wife. Natalya was in her familiar formidable tiger form, yet she was dwarfed almost into insignificance by the mythical and very deadly looking creature by her side. Automatically breathing in the creature\u2019s scent he blinked in surprise but relaxed in relief. \u2018Tania can become a Shedu? That\u2019s a new one! I should have known it was you just by the colour,\u2019 he teased.<\/p>

\u2018A Shedu?\u2019 Tania queried, but she was very relieved she\u2019d become something recognisable and perhaps therefore real. \u2018What is that?\u2019<\/p>

\u2018A giant lion with wings,\u2019 Freddie said. \u2018I thought they were a myth. I\u2019ve certainly never seen a live one myself, but there\u2019s a picture of one in the F\u00e9armathuin portal room, so they must have been real.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Was there ever a tiger version?\u2019 Natalya asked curiously.<\/p>

\u2018If Tania became such a thing, then I\u2019d say that was your answer,\u2019 Freddie responded. \u2018Some people believe dragons are a myth because they are rarely seen, yet here she is.\u2019<\/p>

\u2018Thank you, Freddie,\u2019\u00a0 Tania said gratefully. Her experiment had worked. Whilst not how she’d expected, she’d proven she could shift into other shapes. Yay!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

Children's Storyboard illustrations after listening to excerpt of story<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

World Book Day March 2025 Author excerpt from book “Rescue”, prepared for a junior school who had the theme “The Dragon who lived under the school” for 2025 world book day. Transcript of author reading video SHEDU An excerpt from Rescue, Book 5 of Wizards of White Haven. NB this is an Age 16+ book. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-763","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=763"}],"version-history":[{"count":72,"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/763\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/franceshowitt.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}