The story behind Dumbleby Forest

Mark White is the creative force behind the magical world of Dumbleby Forest. As a father to two daughters, he was shocked to discover just how attached they were to their dummies when he and his wife initially began the process of weaning. Having witnessed how soothing his daughters had found their dummies, and how distressed they were at the concept of this comforter being removed, he decided to come up with a plan.

Harnessing the power of bed time stories, Mark created a wonderful world that dummies were desperate to get back to. A place where they could be happy and free when the time was right, and his daughters had come to an acceptance about letting go. Re-telling the story over time enabled his daughters to adjust to the idea that their dummy would be better off in its own world, playing with its friends and helping the king and queen of the forest to keep the kingdom of Dumbleby in order. He even gave them a name – the Giggalots.

“Whilst I don’t intend for this book, and magical land, to be the solution to your child wanting to let go of their dummy, I do hope it will bring them some comfort. It can be used as an aid to plant the seed of letting go of dummy, as well as a cheerful bedtime story to ignite their imagination and help them get a peaceful night’s sleep.”

Mark’s story has been brought to life by professional illustrator and designer Marcus Silverside. He created the movie poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and, more recently designed the logo for Bob the Builder, a well-loved children’s television show. As a father himself, he was able to understand the struggles of dummy weaning which helped him to draw characters that children would find appealing and could relate to. Marcus has also created a number of activity sheets to accompany the book that can be found here.

Mark has created an entire brand around baby weaning, called LettyGo-Land. Dumbleby Forest is the first in a series of books that will help parents to support the letting go of the things that can become a crutch for a child, and can cause problems with development, if left too long.

“I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed creating it. Please feel free to leave a comment below, or on the social channels, to let me know how you and your child got on with Dumbleby Jack and friends.”