Press Release

latest publications

“The Hair-Raising Kite Flight”
Harey and his friends, including Pillow, the parrot, go out flying their kite dangerously close to an electricity pylon with disastrous results.
32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers and electricity safety tips.
ISBN 0-9546565-1-2.
£4.99

“The Dangerous Pirate Treasure”
A funny short children's story about Harey the hair-brained rabbit and his friends, Pillow the parrot, Chips, the dog, and Scampi, the cat, go looking for treasure after finding an old pirate treasure map in the loft, but dig up an electricity cable instead.
32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers and electricity safety tips.
ISBN 0-9546565-3-9.
£4.99

“Fire in the Fryer”
Harey the rabbit decides to deep-fry some chips for a barbecue.
He fills the fryer too much and abandons it while he goes off to play,
allowing it to burst into flames.
32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers.
ISBN 0-9546565-2-0
£4.99

“A Dangerous Day on the Farm”
Harey and his friends visit a farm. After many accidents and dangers, involving a cartoon farmer, an angry cow and a pool of pig-muck, Harey manages to set a barn alight and runs into a grain silo to hide. Fortunately, it is not full and he is dug out safely by the Fire Brigade. A picture book to promote safety of children on the farm.
32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers.
ISBN 0-9546565-5-5.
£4.99

"The Dangerous Road Game"
Supporting the THINK! road safety campaign and including the Green Cross Code information.
Harey dreams of being the best football player in the world. He races out of the house, falls over a cartoon snail and walks into a lamp-post.
He and his friends then cross over the road to play in the park. Harey kicks the ball into the road. He then runs after it without looking and is knocked down by a car, but just survives with bad bruising because the car was not travelling fast. 32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers.
ISBN 0-9546565-4-7.
£5.99

“The Dangerously Big Bunny”
Supporting the TOAST obesity awareness programme.
Harey, the hare-brained rabbit, watches TV all day and eats all the wrong foods. He becomes unhealthy and overweight. He has trouble getting through doorways, too overweight to play on the swings, breaks his skateboard, and sinks the boat in the park. His doctor puts him on a diet. He cuts down on eating biscuits, sweets, chocolate toffee bars, cakes and ice-cream, joins a gym and watches less television. He is soon back to his old fit self. 'Who's a pretty boy, then?' says his friend, Pillow the parrot.
32 pages, full colour, including sticker page with six stickers.
ISBN 0-9546565-7-1.
£5.99

“Stranger Dangers”
It is the day of Halloween and Harey, the hare-brained rabbit, and his friends go playing and looking for ghosts in a disused factory building with dangerous results. They are approached several times during the day by a strange man and woman. That night, they dress up and go out knocking on people's doors, when Harey is finally kidnapped by the two strangers, but rescued in the end.
32 pages, full colour, no stickers.
ISBN 978-0-9546565-8-4.
£5.99

“A Dangerous Christmas”
Harey and his friends have a dangerous Christmas when he tries to climb on the furniture to place a fairy on top of the tree, gets an electrical shock playing with the fairy lights, sets fire to the Christmas tree, and ends up scalding himself in the kitchen while rushing around.
32 pages, full colour.
ISBN 978-0-9546565-6-0.
£5.99

“The Deadly Sweet Cupboard”
One wet, windy, winter’s morning Harey decides to have a party because it is his birthday. Having been given some pot-pourri as a present he tries to drink the essential oil but Scampi saves him just in time, knocks over a candle and causes a fire, goes to use some plastic washing pouches for eating as jellies and swallows some "sweets" he finds in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
32 pages, full colour.
ISBN 978-0-9546565-0-8.
£5.99

“A Nasty Shock”
Harey, the hare-brained rabbit, and his friends are playing with their video games just before breakfast when the computer suddenly goes off. They examine the wiring and Harey puts his screwdriver into the electricity plug and gets a nasty shock.
During breakfast Harey sticks a knife into the toaster to retrieve his toast and gets another shock, but then receives a third one when he fills up the kettle and plugs it into the mains with wet hands.
Finally, whilst playing football in the garden, Harey kicks the ball over the hedge into an electrical substation and tries to retrieve the ball. Scampi stops him from climbing over the fence and telephones the electricity board for help. A Central Networks electricity man brings them their ball back safely.
32 pages, full colour.
ISBN 978-0-954656591.
£5.99

18 January 2011 15:39 Harey, the hare-brained rabbit, helps educate children about the dangers of electricity.

Central Networks, the electricity distribution company for central England, has joined forces with DangerSpot Books author Hedley Griffin to produce a picture book which helps educate children about the dangers of electricity in and outside the home.

The picture book entitled 'A Nasty Shock' depicts the tale of Harey, the hare-brained rabbit and his friends who learn about the potential hazards of electricity.

As part of its Safety Education Programme, Central Networks will be donating a copy of the book, which is aimed at year one pupils, to primary schools across the East and West Midlands.

The story illustrates how Harey, gets a 'nasty' shock when using a knife to retrieve toast from the toaster and when plugging in the kettle with wet hands. He also learns the dangers of playing near substations.

Anita Mellor, Public Safety Manager at Central Networks, said: "We were delighted to support DangerSpot Books in the writing of this story, which will help young minds understand the dangers of electricity and how to stay safe.

"This amusing story is a great way to entertain children while promoting an important safety message. We hope primary schools will welcome this new addition to their libraries."

Author, Hedley Griffin, said: "It was a delight and a pleasure working with Central Networks, who were very helpful in their suggestions on the script. I hope this book goes a little way to help prevent electrical injuries to children and perhaps act as a good reminder to parents and teachers as they read the book to their children."

Notes to editors:

•Central Networks, provides a reliable supply to around 10 million people in central England through 133,000km of underground and overhead cables - enough to go round the Earth more than three times - and via almost 94,000 substations.

•Central Networks covers an area from the Peak District in the north to parts of Bristol in the south, and from the Welsh Borders to the Lincolnshire Coast.

•The DangerSpot picture book series illustrates a whole range of potential dangers which could pose a threat to children including electricity, fire hazards and road safety. They follow the antics of Harey the hare-brained rabbit, who is always rushing around, having accidents;

•The author, Hedley Griffin who having spent 30 years as an animation director, working for BBC and Channel 4 Schools Television, now self-publishes his own children's books on child safety.

For further information contact: Victoria Blake 02476 181 304

-Ends-

Note for Editors

Harey, the hare-brained rabbit, spends much of his time rushing around and not thinking, which inevitably causes several accidents in the stories. Scampi, the cat, is the wisest of the characters and spends her time helping Harey to avoid accidents. Chips, the dog, is often the victim of Harey's adventures and Pillow, the parrot, repeats everything to emphasise the safety message. With safety DangerSpot stickers for use around the home and a page of safety information the books aim to help prevent accidents by focusing the lessons on safety while entertaining children. It is sometimes very difficult to teach a young child all the dangers that might occur within the home but a single image of the sticker placed in the appropriate places might then bring home the message.