The idea that inspired ‘The Magical Love Garden’ book was that emotions are like seeds. Therefore it is important that we learn from a young age which ones we should nurture because they enrich our lives and which ones we should avoid. The Story is set upon a magical island that a group of children visit. They soon discover that the trees upon the island are magical trees representing the full spectrum of positive and negative emotions. The children find seeds which they plant enthusiastically but when they find that the seeds of emotions such as anger and sadness grow into angry, sad trees laden with angry, sad fruits then they have to think more carefully about which seeds they do and don’t plant. It seems that in the end the Love trees are the most popular trees on the island.

Tara Joy was inspired and interested by the story of ‘The Magical Love Garden’ and the possibility of creating children’s books that could help children to choose to nurture emotions that would bring them the most benefit throughout their lives. She illustrated it using acrylic paint on canvas and as in so much of her art she filled the illustrations with hidden aspects and characters to be discovered, vibrant colour, detail and and a sense that there is more to nature than initially meets the eye.

Even in the parts of the story where the children on the island are having to learn difficult lessons, Tara’s illustrations are so full of humour and fantastical characters that they lighten the mood of the story and can carry the readers through the tears and smiles of the story.