A retired teacher from Aberdeenshire is spearheading a French language revival after publishing a series of books for children.
Rhona Mair’s Monsieur Lapin books have taken the book charts by storm, reaching Number Two on Amazon and attracting a string of five-star reviews.
The 72-year-old former primary teacher from Lonmay near Fraserburgh, writing under the penname Rhona R McMillan, has published three books. Two more are in the pipeline.
She began creating stories with simple French words to supplement her then eight-year-old granddaughter’s school lessons during lockdown.
And following encouragement from members of her book club – where she has been inspired by the likes of Noel Barber, Jeffrey Archer and Ann Cleeves – she began crafting the stories into a series of rhyming books.
Wrote Monsieur Lapin books to help granddaughter during lockdown
“I’ve always been really keen on foreign languages. My husband had a lot of contacts in Europe, and they are so good at English there.
“We on the other hand tend to be so poor at foreign languages, we just don’t make the same effort when we’re on the continent. We just seem to expect everybody to speak to us in our language.
“So I was very pleased that my granddaughter had started learning French words. Unfortunately the pandemic came and it all came to a stop, which was really frustrating. With the advent of Covid, children’s education suffered terribly.
“To help her keep up her French, I had the idea of introducing simple French words and sayings to her via an amusing story.
“I kept writing during lockdown and Monsieur Lapin’s adventures continued.”
Rhona’s quirky and entertaining stories feature the toy rabbit Monsieur Lapin, who miraculously comes alive whenever he hears French words.
The first three books – Monsieur Lapin in Hospital, Monsieur Lapin Plays Hide and Seek, and Monsieur Lapin Goes to London – have been released to critical acclaim.
Monsieur Lapin in Hospital reached Number Two on Amazon in the children’s French books category, and Number Seven in the French language instruction category.
‘I had no intention of publishing, but it just grew and grew’
Each story introduces new French words and phrases together with their English translations.
The books have been described by reviewers as ‘lovely’, ‘well-presented’ and ‘highly recommended’.
“I had no intention of publishing them, I don’t really like being in the limelight,” said Rhona.
“But when I took it along to my book club, a friend read it and said ‘oh, that’s interesting’.
“Several others then read it, all of whom were enthusiastic about it. One in particular said ‘you should really do something with this’.
“So I kept writing, and it just grew from there, and eventually I contacted the publisher.”
For more details, visit Amazon and search for Rhona R McMillan, where the paperback and Kindle formats of Monsieur Lapin Goes to London, Monsieur Lapin Plays Hide and Seek, and Monsieur Lapin in Hospital are all available.
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