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A FORMER accountant to pop icon George Michael is set to launch a new children's book aimed at giving youngsters their first anti-bullying messages.

Mother-of-three Julie Hegarty, who lives in the Grange, has already been in a string of city nurseries and primary schools performing a puppet show adapted from her book.

Crabbit Comes To Stay, Ms Hegarty's debut book, is thought to be the first anti-bullying material specially aimed at pre-school children produced in the Capital.

The launch comes after the Evening News revealed earlier this month how incidents of bullying in the city's primary and secondary schools have jumped 15 per cent over the space of the previous 12 months.

Some schools reported more than 50 incidents in the space of the year, but even schools that recorded few incidents were criticised by education chiefs for not taking the problem seriously. The book highlights anti-bullying messages through the story of a young shellfish, Michelle, and her underwater rock-pool friends, whose lives are disrupted by Crabbit, a grumpy crustacean.

In the book, her pals Hermie the hermit crab and Starfish are able to discover the reasons for Crabbit's bullying ways and help him face his fears.

Ms Hegarty, 39 - who was previously a music business accountant working for celebrities such as chart-topping pop star Michael and folk diva Nanci Griffith - describes the book as "a modern-day Aesop's Fable".

Illustrated by Edinburgh artist Ritchie Collins, it has been snapped up by the same distributor that had a hand in the success of the famous Maisie from Morningside stories, by Aileen Paterson.

But Ms Ritchie's book has already been showcased to youngsters in South Morningside Primary, Mary Erskine's junior school and George Watson's junior school.

The author, who has published the book herself, said: "The inspiration behind Michelle and her rock-pool world came from my own children, who had always been so fascinated by rock-pools and what lived in them.

"I wanted to use the rock setting to transport the reader to a magical, imaginative environment in which to tackle the serious issue of bullying between younger children, with the aim being that the book would prompt open and honest discussion."

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