AN EDUCATIONAL children’s storybook created by an Ayrshire business consultant during lockdown has been brought to life in the form of a new album and audiobook featuring some of Scotland’s finest musicians.

The book Mr Goose – Risk & Reward, originally created and written by Grant Kennedy for his own children, tells the story of a loveable character called Mr Goose and teaches little ones the importance of taking risks and developing personal resilience.

Grant decided to team up with composer and musician Craig Espie of Skerryvore to bring the story to life in musical form.

Craig set about creating an instrumental song for each individual character in the book and this quickly formed the basis of the album and audiobook.

He then called on a host of friends from the Scottish music scene to each represent a character and play on the album, while BBC Radio Scotland broadcaster and fellow musician Gary Innes stepped up to narrate the audiobook.

The book was illustrated by local artist Louise McBride capturing the local environment and bringing the characters to life. It is also accompanied by a host of educational resources and its teaching was piloted at Doonfoot Primary earlier this year before being rolled out to schools across Ayrshire.

The book centres around Mr Goose’s adventures along the River Doon, the different characters he meets along the way, and their approach to taking risks in order to succeed.

The accompanying educational resources now available to schools across Scotland via the national learning platform Glow and are aligned to the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. They help children learn about concepts of risk and reward, as well as learning about different musical instruments and styles.

The album was released on Friday, August 20 and an audiobook will follow.