Moffles are tiny, fluffy creatures, who carry the colours of their emotions in their fur, for all the world to read like a storybook. Billy Moffle is very young but already he has become so scared and hurt that he has turned blue and grey. If he just keeps everything straight and tidy, maybe he won’t feel so frightened. Can a new mummy and daddy help him to feel safe again?
Billy Moffle’s story follows him on a journey from early trauma, specifically focusing on his experience of witnessing domestic abuse, towards security & healing in a new home. It empathically names the challenges faced by his birth mummy & how these influence her parenting. It aims to help children identify with the characters & find their own meaning in the story – to help them understand themselves better & see themselves differently. It also reminds carers & parents of why even difficult or puzzling behaviour makes sense in the context of their child’s troubled past.
Reviews
Mikenda begins her sensitive and engaging story with the question, ‘Have you ever seen a Moffle?’ If you haven’t, this might be the right time to meet Billy. He’s a young Moffle who has some very hard times in his early years, so hard that his fur turns blue and grey. Discover how love brings back all of Billy’s colours. It helps him discover that the fun of childhood might involve being messy, rather than making straight lines. While Moffles are very quiet and tiny, they and their fur of colours have much to teach us.
Dan Hughes, PhD, Founder of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy
Billy Moffle is another beautiful book. I love the fact that it’s addressing a behaviour that is rarely (if ever?) explored in children’s books. It is a brave, honest & sensitive exploration of how Billy comes to need straight lines. Although Billy is a children’s book, I can’t help but think it’s a great way to help adoptive parents & carers to make the connection between their child’s presenting issues and their earlier life experiences, & that reading this in a children’s book might make this easier for them.
Emily McAllister, Adoption Support Manager at Adoption Focus.
As ever, Mikenda’s books are brilliant. Really helpful for all those with a history of adverse childhood experiences. Just read Billy to myself and my children and would strongly recommend.
Louise Bomber, Director, Strategic Attachment Lead Teacher & DDP Practitioner, Touchbase
I am very excited to hear that the second Moffle book has been published! have used Tippy Moffle’s Mirror lots with children, to help them think about their own life story, and it has been so helpful – parents have found it very moving and children have said ‘that’s my story’. I have written children’s individual stories based on Tippy Moffle’s story and it has really helped them explore, in a safe way, their own experiences, thoughts and feelings.
Ruth Barker, DDP Practitioner & Theraplay Practitioner
We have looked at Billy’s story three times. The first time he told me he didn’t want to read it. The second time he asked me to read it to him. The third time he pointed at the characters and said, ‘That’s you and that’s me’ and he gave me a hug. I said to hime, ‘We’ve seen a lot of your red colours in the past and now I think we are starting to see some of your pink colours’. He said, ‘Yes – and they are all in my armpits!’
Diane, Residential Care Home Manager, on sharing Billy with an 8 year old boy she cares for.
Children internalise stories about themselves. It’s vital to help them write the right ones. The Moffle books are a great way of helping children understand how emotions have lasting impacts. And that past experiences are not always accurate predictors of the future.
J.J. – Adoptive parent and book lover
Buy a copy of ‘Billy Moffle’s Straight Lines’
If you live in the UK you can buy the book directly from here using PayPal. The book is £9.99, second class postage & packing adds an additional £2.50. Please note, this is only for the UK. If you are overseas, or want to order from Amazon, please do so via the link below.
£12.49
‘Billy Moffle’s Straight Lines’ is also available to order on Amazon.
Welcome to the world of the Moffles! 