Westmeath man’s book inspired by animals in his garden

Westmeath author Terence Casey has written a second children’s book, ‘Thumper Journey to Animal Haven’, which follows the real-life adventures of a pet rabbit.

Terence’s family’s pet rabbit, a rescue animal, inspired the story. "Thumper, our rabbit was found by my sister-in-law out by Clara Market. He was skin and bone," said the Rosemount man.

He decided to write a story about how the rabbit ended up being dumped and abandoned. It recounts Thumper’s birth, his family life, how his siblings were taken into loving families and he experienced the opposite.

Thumper is a young rabbit on a journey through the Irish countryside, where he encounters dangers and befriends other animals before reaching Animal Haven.

According to Terence, the book aims to teach children about empathy towards animals including wild animals. "There’s a few mini stories in it too. I like to teach kids to look around a bit more. The pet animal made his way despite everything. It’s a nice fairytale ending," said Terence.

He also illustrated the book by hand and used Photoshop to make the drawings more print friendly.

‘Thumper Journey to Animal Haven’ is available to purchase online at buythebook.ie at €10 per copy. Terence’s first book ‘The True Adventures of Googly Eyes’ is also for sale on the website.

Terence, a secondary school art teacher, started writing in 2020 and released his first children’s book last June.

He also has a great love for animals and nature. "I’ve had pigeons and canaries since I was a child and we grew up with hens here, and guinea pigs. If there’s an animal in the Rosemount area that gets injured, people bring them to us."

He gives examples of a hedgehog that fell down a cattle grid and a blackbird that was stuck in barbed wire.

"For a kid, especially, to read the book, they could come into this garden and relate to everything in it because they know the hens, the guinea pigs are here. They know the neighbour’s cat is over the wall and that the cat is down here the odd time prowling around.

"One night we saw him sticking his paw through the bars, so everything is real and relatable. "All inspirations come from the garden and are based on loose truths," said Terence.

He also has a great love of music and often performs with his brother Simon Casey. He has released a new single called ‘One More Day’, which has received more than 100,000 streams on Spotify.

He lives in Rosemount with his wife Stephanie and children, James, Charlie and Thomas.