h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sooty has a similar start to Thomas the Tank Engine. As I understand it his creator had to find a way to amuse his young son who was ill (with measels if I recall) so he crafted the original Thomas out of some scrap wood pieces and soon was telling his son stories of the Tank Engine's adventures.

for enlightening me

perhaps one of us could write an entry on Thomas

I have found this A721126

That's basically how Astrid Lindgren started writing, too. I seem to remember she invented Pipi Longstocking first, to entertain an ill child.

perhaps the secret garden may have had that too

And the "Redwall" series was written for an entire children's hospital, if memory serves correctly

It seems like there maybe another Entry could be generated from ths thread.

True!

For that matter Kenneth Grahame first wrote down the tales that became "Wind in the willows" because his young son didn't want to miss out on a nightly bedtime story from his father when he (the son) went on holiday. Even Barney the purple dinosaur got his start from a parent's need to entertain a child. He started out a greyish color but was made purple when Barney made the transition to video (purple showed up better on the film). And for a touch of the classics R.L. Stevenson first conceived of "Treasure Island" when he drew a map of an island for his young step-son Lloyd Osborne, and L.Frank Baum first invented the land of Oz for his children and their friends. I wonder how many childhood stories told by a parent have become such well loved classics the last few centuries. Probably quite a few.

There's always Tolkien, too...

And my little sister She "discovered" that her left hand was a very chatty snake and her right hand was its slightly more sensible tail when the youngest was bored in the car (on the way to the museum ) and now she's studying puppeteering.

I've just had a postcard signed by her, her boyfriend, and the snake and his tail. But I think she plans to make a career of them!