Newton Aycliffe girl, 9, writes book to help children with grief

A nine-year-old girl has written a book to “help other young children cope with grief” after her dad died in a superbike race.

Daisy Blu Mathison, from Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, was three years old when her dad Daley died in the opening race of the Isle of Man TT in 2019.

Daisy & Hugsy – The Missing Star tells the story of a magical bear who learns to navigate life after his best friend – a wise old star – disappears from the sky.

Daisy and her mum Natalie want the book to provide comfort to other children dealing with losing someone they love.

Mrs Mathison said when Daisy was growing up she felt like she was on her own a lot because “she was the only child that had lost somebody”.

“And then she got a little older and realised that she wasn’t alone and saw it happen to other children,” Mrs Mathison said.

“That kind of inspired her to say, ‘right mam, can we actually make it a reality and shine a bit of a light on other people’s darkness?'”

The idea began as a drawing by Daisy of a cuddly bear with a glowing heart and has now developed into a self-published book.

Mrs Mathison said her husband would be “really proud” of their daughter’s work, helping to brighten up other children’s lives.

Daisy thinks her dad would be first in line to buy a copy.

“If he could, I feel like he would have got one,” she said.

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