I had the idea to write a story in January of 2020 but did not come up with the story concept till the first lockdown. I wrote the first draft of the story in 2020 as a way to occupy my mind during the initial lockdown. I had the idea for the story after reading some of the children's books I had discovered in my Grandparents attic, I had moved to live at their house just before March 2020. Most of the books I found that I had read as a child had helped me understand complex issues without realising it at the time, specifically the series of books 'Help me be good' by Joy Berry. I decided that I liked the idea that I could potentially help new generations of children the same way I had been helped.

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As someone who grew up without a solid support system I wanted the main character of my story to have that love and support from their parents and their siblings. I also wanted to show children without a solid family that is it possible to be loved and cared for. A future idea I have for a story is about the notion of found family and how you can find that love and support even if you were not born with it.

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The main driving force of the story is that the littlest owl was born with one wing much smaller than the other and therefore cannot do all the things their parents and siblings can do. This can be a representation for physical disabilities but it is more broadly a metaphor for other less visible struggles a child might have. I for example has a very unstable childhood due to my Mum's mental illness, my parents turbulent relationship and subsequent divorce where I was then left in my Mum's sole care. I was left alone a lot so had grow up very fast and learn to feed, cloth myself, self-soothe etc, whilst not technically a good thing it did make me strong.

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To offset the idea that as a child you have to overcome adversity alone the family surrounding the littlest owl is supportive of their growth but the parents do caution their child that the need not do things alone and are encouraged to ask for help.