A cheeky new children’s book, on the life of the Welsh working class hero Dic Penderyn, is the first of the brand new ‘Tidy Tales of Wales’ book series.

Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising has been co-written by Merthyr author, Anthony ‘Bunko’ Griffiths, and Patric Morgan, the Cardiff-based creator of the popular ‘Wales on Craic’ website, and illustrated by Merthyr artist Chris O’Keefe.

The book has already received a welcome boost from Merthyr Library, which Tweeted ‘It’s a great book’ and recommended it to its followers at the start of the school summer holidays. The publishers also believe the book will be of interest to visitors to Wales who want to know more about the country, by reading these humorous and bite-size tales.

The new book is the first of a new children’s book series entitled ‘Tidy Tales from Welsh History’, a series of humorous historical fiction for children that tell the famous tales of Wales in a fresh and entertaining way.

Speaking about their new ‘Tidy Tale’, Anthony and Patric said: “Our book is designed to make learning a laugh, facts fun and history hilarious. It’s packed with illustrations, a quiz and a ‘Did You Know’ feature. Whilst we’ve kept as close as we can to historical fact, the book lovingly tells the stories of Wales’ heroes and heroines and its myths and legends, but with a smile and a snigger (and we’re sure adults will love them too!).”

Dic Penderyn and the Merthyr Rising will soon be followed by two further titles this autumn with Owain Glyndwr and Roald Dahl getting the ‘Tidy Tales’ treatment.

THE AUTHORS

Patric Morgan is an multi-award winning writer and magazine editor/publisher from Barry who was previously an English teacher in a South Wales secondary school. In 2014, together with his co-author Anthony Bunko, Patric jointly-created the hugely popular WalesOnCraic which has over 22,000 Facebook followers.

Anthony Bunko is a bestselling author and playwright from Merthyr Tydfil, who once had a three-legged dog called ‘Lucky’.

Chris O’Keefe is a Merthyr-based illustrator who did not get any crayons stuck up his nose whilst drawing the pictures for this book, or so he says!

• Published by St. Davids Press, of Cardiff, the 128-page book is proiced £6.99.