Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?
I’ve been up to London to visit the Queen
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?
I frightened a little mouse under the chair!
Traditional nursery rhyme
Last Summer, I changed my name to Kitty Pidduck – well, my writing name and, by extension, my teaching and performing name.
I’d been thinking about it for a long time – ever since I began writing for children in earnest. I wanted to use my grandmother’s name to honour her side of the family (more about that here) and because I thought it would make a great name for a children’s writer.
Then my sister, Philippa (aka Polly), and I got the amazing news that the preschool show we’ve been developing with KingBee Animation had received some interest from two channels at the Children’s Media Conference!
We’d already set up our company, Pidduck Productions, so now it was time to ‘become’ Kitty and Polly Pidduck. But how? It wasn’t such a problem for Philippa/Polly as she has more of a behind-the-scenes role within the company. But for me, as the ‘face’ of Pidduck Productions and its main content creator, it was important to manage the transition smoothly.
The first step was to email all the early years settings where I teach music and tell them about the name change. I did this at the end of the Summer term and promised to find a way to introduce children and staff to my new persona at the beginning of the new school year.
Next, I needed to think about who Kitty Pidduck is and what’s different about her as a writer, teacher and performer.
I decided to take the ethos behind our series as a starting point. At its heart, the show is about outdoor learning – specifically about what happens when a little girl and her dog explore various outdoor settings and meet the animals and plants that inhabit them. There are songs in different musical styles celebrating the beauty and diversity of the natural world. And there is humour in the form of some very muddy messy play!
I was already working in two outdoor settings – a forest school and a wildlife garden – and this was challenging me in new and inspiring ways. It made sense to take my experience of delivering creative music sessions which celebrate nature and wildlife and see how far I could run with it – to make outdoor learning a key part of my ‘brand’.
I set to work contacting local outdoor settings and asking them if they would be interested in wildlife music sessions. The Director of Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses (BPCG), Kate Sebag, was super-supportive, which is how I came to deliver my first session as Kitty Pidduck on 25 August (more info here).
It felt odd but exciting to inhabit the new me. I sang songs from the series and was thrilled to see children and parents engaging with them. I also thought of a cool way to introduce myself – with the nursery rhyme, Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, where have you been? I changed the lyric to Kitty Cat to reflect my name and invited children to act out the song with a toy cat and mouse and a crown for the Queen.
It worked a treat – so much so that, come September, I was able to use this strategy in all the nurseries I work in. There’s no doubt children and staff found calling me by my new name tricky to begin with but everyone has been very generous and, as time has passed, it’s become easier and more natural.
This is just the first step on a long journey to becoming the children’s writer and content creator I want to be but I’m so glad I’ve taken it. Thanks to everyone who has supported me so far ?
