Archive for the ‘About Stories’ Category

Breathing is a Superpower!

Our My Mind Matters! consultant, Jessica Bowers, has written a very special blog this month about our theme: breathing. We often take it for granted.. but in times of stress it can be a real super power. If this blog reminds you to breath in more often, then our job is truly done!

It feels appropriate that while I am writing this blog, I’m breathing in the beautiful sea air of Padstow in Cornwall. When I breathe the Cornish air and see the breath-taking view, I feel present and connected to myself and the world around me. Mindful breathing enables me to embody this experience and feel truly alive.

Breathing is an elemental expression of life, and neuroscientists have proven that there is a clear link between our breathing and how we experience emotions in our bodies. However, we usually breathe all day, every day, without being aware of the effect it can have on us.

To breathe mindfully involves inhaling air in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Don’t do anything else – just take it in and let it out, paying attention to what you are feeling at the moment.

Emotions can be felt deeply in our bodies, and it is vital that we are aware of the role mindful breathing can play in supporting a healthy and positive emotional state.

The expression ‘don’t forget to stop and smell the roses’ is not just an empty statement, but a great example of how we can connect with the world around us and take it in. In fact, getting children to enjoy smelling flowers is a good way to help them become aware of the effect mindful breathing can have. If you ask them to breathe in and out while focussing on the flowers they are smelling, they are discovering that breathing connects us to our surroundings and can help us to feel calm.

The process of breathing also has a key role to play in grounding us and making us feel calm and centred. Counting can help us to pace our breathing and control any anxious thoughts going through our minds. This can also help kids to focus and settle down. It’s particularly useful before bedtime or story time!

If you are working on positive affirmations, they can be much more effective when combined with conscious breathing. Doing this helps us to absorb the affirmations into our bodies as well as our minds.

Mindful breathing can be enjoyed by the whole family. If added to our daily routines, it can have a positive effect on our mental health. This is a wonderful gift to give to our children – this simple practice can help develop their emotional resilience and well-being as they grow.
Scientific research has proven that if we stand in the superhero pose (legs apart, hands on hips and chest puffed out) and breathe in and out for two to four minutes, then we will feel more confident and powerful. I suggest you try it for yourself! This is a great one to do with children of all ages. My kids love it (and so do I)!

Here are some ideas for how to incorporate mindful breathing into your daily routine:

• Do it outdoors! Try doing mindful breathing as part of a family walk or scavenger hunt. Find a green spot that feels peaceful and magical and get everyone to breathe in and out a few times before continuing on your adventure. I bet you will feel more energetic thanks to the lovely fresh air!
• Easy Yoga! This is a wonderful introduction to mindful breathing, and there are plenty of videos available online for children and families. You could include a breathing exercise as part of your evening routine. It’s even better when combined with candles and relaxing music. Your children might enjoy choosing their own songs to relax to!
• Try it in the morning! I have three children, so I don’t have much free time. However, doing a few minutes of mindful breathing each morning makes a profound difference to my day. I close my eyes and relax my body with every breath and then answer these three questions:
  1. What am I grateful for?
  2. What am I proud of?
  3. What is my intention for today?
• Set a small, achievable target. This should help anyone who wakes up feeling overwhelmed by the challenges they will face during the day.

I hope this blog encourages you to think more about conscious breathing, and I hope you were inhaling and exhaling mindfully while you read this blog. Conscious breathing is a fabulous superpower that helps us to deal with the anxiety and stress we face in our lives. Remember to use it!

The Telling of True Life Tales – Part I

Guest Blog (c) Nick Abadzis 2022

“Based on a true story”

“Inspired by real events”

“Based on the book by…”

How often have you seen words like those at the beginning of a film or TV series and asked yourself, “I wonder how much of this is true?” Or perhaps you watched a “biopic” movie of somebody famous and wondered, “Did that really happen to them?”

True events are witnessed and are recorded – this is history. History is the present. As mundane as our own surroundings may sometimes appear, history happens all around us in a world teeming with events on which we can train an ever greater amount of recording instruments.

Modern times and the recent yesterdays of the living are one thing, but at what point does the contemporary cross the frontier into the bygone and then into antiquity? Every generation may have its own perceptions of course, but looking back, deeper into time and recorded human history, I see a terminator shadow. It’s a line at which the daylight of living memory borders the dusk of the stories of both the recently deceased and the ancient dead.

The story of nomadic ancient humans, until they began leaving artefacts and ruins behind for later generations to study, was oral, passed down generationally, and it’s from that vast, tidal pool of spoken word storytelling that the world’s myths and legends developed. The gods and spirits of the landscape and the seas were a way of comprehending the natural world. Mythologies were an elemental lexicon consisting of earth, air, fire and water and also of the unseen, the human imagination; the spiritual and the divine – the idea that there is much more to this existence than what we perceive with our five, mortal senses.

Humankind is obsessed with its own place in the world and whether we celebrate the adventures of mythical hunter-gatherers, ancient warrior queens, dragon slayers or the first men landing on the Moon, the intent is similar – to comprehend and celebrate our own achievements and our place in nature. We bear witness to ourselves via the mechanisms of storytelling and arguably, all the stories we tell have some element of truth in them.

That is, not necessarily a consensual, widely-held truth, not empirical scientific truth, but an “emotional truth” – a sense that there’s a kernel of wisdom at the core of a story, something authentic and legitimate that either animates the make-believe or honours real-life, real world accomplishments.

Fiction and fantasy are the domains where our imaginations have free reign. Both depend on the rules you invent or abide by for your own invented universe. Telling – or, to be precise, retelling tales from true life experiences requires a different mindset. The lens through which we view history is at least as important as the choice of events we choose to spotlight. If the witnesses to events are no longer alive, there will always be a degree of interpretation, and via that translation and inevitable dramatisation, there is sometimes also an impulse to mythologise.

Via all our highly-evolved modern storytelling apparatus, it’s easy to transmute true stories into modern day folk tales. A myth is constructed, whether its bricks are built of the raw materials of real experience mixed with symbols and something more fantastical yet. A real life tale is a record of sorts, sometimes embroidered and elaborated upon, but still an account of events that actually occurred.

I believe that it’s very important to honour the past, the lives our forebears and ancestors lived, as we stand upon their shoulders. Their stories are our bedrock. To that end, research should be exhaustive, and any storyteller worth their salt should both want to get inside the heads and hearts of their subjects and the conditions they lived under and present any findings in as objective and accurate a way as possible. In terms of the actual dramatising of events, there are inevitably some liberties to be taken, but aiming for a sense of authenticity is essential.

The telling of a true, real-life tale, no matter how recent or however ancient (and if records allow!) will always benefit from in-depth research. Look for the truth behind the words, the facts behind the anecdotal, separate evidence and actuality from fable. That’s the measure of any real life tale “based on true events.”

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In September, watch out for our anniversary issue and an awesome competition to create your own comic strip! Nick will be sharing some insights on the creation and the telling of his own “true-life” tale, the hugely successful graphic novel Laika, published in 2007 and still in print!

Why is reading important for children?

Guest Blog from Readmio

Do you sometimes wonder how to get your children to read? Are you all at sea when trying to find something they might like? And is it even worth it? After all, reading seems a waste of time nowadays… isn’t it?

Modern life is fast-paced, and it’s not always easy to find enough time for oneself. That’s exactly why everyone should learn to this so as soon as possible. By showing our children the joys of sitting down and reading, we are giving them a set of priceless life skills.

Time spent together

Children need us to read with them – at least when they’re very little. We read to the youngest ones and share picture books with them; we teach the older ones to read and handle new information. Many parents read bedtime stories to their kids. After reading, we can discuss the stories with preschool (and even younger) children. Adults are often amazed by their kids’ imagination – and this simple pastime opens their minds as well. Stories in books and magazines are an infinite source of inspiration when talking with your kids in the car, over lunch or while waiting at the doctor’s.

Language development

It’s simple – the more your children read, the easier it will become for them to express themselves. Children whose parents read to them regularly and who start reading by themselves have richer vocabularies. They can express their own thoughts better and find it much easier to work with text in general. Reading is a skill they will use for the rest of their lives, and expanding one’s vocabulary is similar to collecting LEGO bricks – the more words they have, the more they can build with them!

Growing imagination

Reading affects our brains differently than television. There are many educational shows for kids nowadays, but it’s always a good idea to read a few ‘ordinary’ books as well. Both children and adults create their own worlds in their minds while reading, and this prevents their brains from becoming lazy.

Gaining knowledge

Kids’ attention spans are usually quite short, so short stories and articles can be a perfect choice for them. When you’re choosing a book or magazine, don’t forget that children are not picky. They will happily read both Snow White and an article about the cosmos if it’s written in a way that’s appropriate for their age. By introducing our kids to a wide range of texts on various subjects, we are opening their minds to amazing possibilities. Reading can make a huge difference to their lives – thanks to you!

Employing all the senses

Reading can involve more than just looking at words on a page. Some books include stickers and blank pages where you can write your own ideas. Illustrated magazines can also be very engaging. Thanks to their colourful content, no one gets bored – not your kid and not even you!

• Experiments! Read the instructions and get down to it! Who doesn’t love at-home experiments? Knowing how to follow instructions will come in handy at school one day.
• Recipes! Recipes are actually at-home experiments as well! The results will please the whole family.
• Crafting! Cutting, gluing, colouring, connecting… not everyone will realize that they’re actually learning by doing these fun activities!

Forming a habit

Many magazines are published regularly. Children love them and they can easily become part of a fun routine – kids love fining them in the mail every Monday or buying them in a shop with their parents. This builds a habit that will come in useful one day: watching the news regularly and keeping up to date on developments will make them better informed when they grow up.

Learning through play

Finally, books and magazines are a magical way to encourage curiosity and a love of learning in kids. Short articles can turn seemingly boring facts into nuggets worth discovering. They can be an infinite source of fun and inspiration! By encouraging our children to read, we can make sure that their desire to learn and explore never fades. That way, they will always find the world joyous and utterly fascinating!

This article was made in cooperation with Readmio – an app full of stories and fairy tales for children.

Illustrator Interview with Julia Cherednichenko

This month, we are thrilled to have the chance to sit down and chat to the amazing Ukrainian artist Julia Cherednichenko. She did the wonderful illustrations for The Curly-Tailed Lion in Storytime 93, and we are keen to find out more about her work!

1. When did you realize that you wanted to be an artist?

Looking back now, I can see that an extraordinary combination of circumstances brought me to this point. I still feel as if there was some magic involved, or that the universe intended things to work out this way. I’ll try to explain!

I have doing art all my life, but it was just a hobby. When I was 8 or 9 years old, my parents enrolled me in art school, but I left a year later because of health reasons. My formal training as an artist ended. But when you have a passion, some things become inevitable. All my life, my passion was creating things with my hands. I drew, sculpted, embroidered, sewed, and took photos – but those were just hobbies that were good for my soul.

Sometimes, other people told me that I have a talent for art and craft. “You should be an artist,” they said. However, what does it mean to be an artist? To just have talent is not enough!

You need to immerse yourself in the profession. That is how you get knowledge, experience and good mentors. You should have your own motivation to improve your professional skills – and just as important, there should be a pleasant atmosphere around you.

In the society where I grew up and studied, becoming a professional artist was quite difficult, so many budding artists choose other careers. That’s what happened to me.

First, I became an international economist, and then I worked as a manager for 3 years. Everything seemed okay, but I felt that I was not in the right place, and that I was living somebody else’s life, not mine. The first war in the eastern part of Ukraine in 2014 changed everything for me.

I had to move to another part of my country. It was a difficult but very important time for me. During this long ‘trip’ I realized a lot of things. One was that I didn’t want to be a manager or economist anymore. I needed to change something, take control of my life, and choose what I wanted to do. Most of all, I dreamed of changing the world. To make it better, to have make an impact on it, to bring beauty. At that time, I didn’t have any idea about how to do this. I just wanted to find out how to move forward. The answer soon arrived!

One night 7 years ago, I had a dream. It was very beautiful and so realistic. It gave me all the answers I needed. My subconscious told me that I should draw children’s books, that I am an artist, and that I shouldn’t forget this. If I wanted to change something, I should do it right now. The next morning, I got up and I knew who I was. That dream changed everything in my life.

At 25, I made a conscious choice to become an artist and draw children’s books, and to improve my skills in illustration and design. Creating art is my way to be heard, to have a chance to make this world a little better.

2. How did you develop your artistic skills and make a career out of art?

Just two words – learning and practice. Every day, I learn something new. I try to discover things that help me to develop in all ways. For example, every morning I read a useful book and watch an instructional video. I have attended a lot of masterclasses and online courses in illustration, design, writing, and even the art of planning. This helps me to develop myself and my skills every day.

As far as professional skills go – for me, the basic step was education. As I said, I had decided to become an artist in a very dark time. I knew that I wanted to start doing graphic design. I didn’t know anything in this field – I had some knowledge of Photoshop and Illustrator software, but that wasn’t enough. There was so much more to learn. I think that when you choose art as a profession, you should be ready to study for your whole life.

At that time, my main questions were: “How do I avoid getting lost?”, “How do I make sure I don’t miss important information?” and “How do I make the right choices in my design studies?” It was too much for me at first.

I understood that one day I want to be a very good professional. Therefore, I had to learn from professionals and complete a good education programme that would help me to improve my skills, become competitive, and develop as a creator. I found all these things during my education as a graphic designer.

I had the chance to learn so many things that I wouldn’t have discovered on my own. I wouldn’t have known about lots of important techniques. When you have a general understanding of what a field includes, you can improve yourself in any direction. This is how I got into illustration.

3. Who are your favourite artists? Also, are there other people who have inspired you?

Oh, that’s a very hard question! There are so many artists with so many beautiful works that it can be difficult to decide which ones I like best. I love many different illustrators and designers. I’ll list some of them: Carson Elis, Rebecca Green, Julia Sarda, Rebecca Dautremer, Giulia Pintus, Jean Jullien, Anton Van Hertbrugge and many more. I also have to mention Utagawa Kunisada and my favourite, Picasso. This list could be longer! I am also inspired by fiction and nonfiction literature, adventure movies, anything that can capture my eyes or heart. It can be a book, an artwork, a movie, a ballet, an opera, or a theatre performance. I’m especially inspired by the passion of creators.

4. What media and techniques do you use to create your art? Are there any that you would like to experiment with?

Most of my drawings are created using either mixed or digital techniques on my iPad and laptop. I can’t say that I work only in Procreate, for example, or in Photoshop. I’m an illustrator and designer – so I use many programs, such as Procreate and Designer on the iPad and Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and many more on the laptop for creating illustrations and layouts for books, packaging or products. Besides using digital stuff, I work with traditional techniques – pencils, markers, ink, gouache, acrylic and stamps. I like to mix textures and elements created using traditional techniques with digital illustration. It is interesting to experiment with different means of expression in projects.

Before starting the illustration/book/packaging, I need to understand what style and technique will work best and what new and unexpected possibilities I’ll have by changing the means of creation.

I feel that I have to experiment more with traditional techniques. For example, to work more with hand-drawing and sketching and mixing traditional materials and digital art in one picture. Such experiments can give more freedom, but it also take more time and don’t always work for a project.

5. What are your favourite subjects to draw? (We have noticed that you are particularly good at doing animals, which made you a natural choice for doing our recent story about a celebrity lion!)

Oh, thank you very much! It doesn’t really matter to me whether I draw people or animals or nature. The main thing is the idea, soul and hidden meaning of the illustration. In every picture and every character, I try to put a little part of my vision and feelings, something from my experiences, memories, or situations that will evoke emotions in people. It doesn’t matter to me who the character is. I’ll do my best to ‘believe in’ every figure. When you can look at the picture and understand what the character feels, or catch the thought – “Oh, it’s true, it’s about me, it’s me!”

In general, maybe yes, I draw animals more often. I like to observe animals – they are funny, cute and unpredictable. I can imagine any amusing situation with them. Moreover, I have a dog and a cat at home, and I often make sketches and illustrations about their relationship. Sometimes they are so weird! I just have to show this in my pictures. In one sentence, it is never boring with them.

Nevertheless, please don’t think that I only draw animals! I have many illustrations of people, especially children. For example, I have been creating a book for the last 6 months in which there are more than 100 characters, both children and adults. It is a work in progress now, so I don’t know the exact number. Anyway, I hope it will appeal to children all over the world when it comes out!

6. We recently had a chance to read a wonderful book that you wrote and illustrated! What inspired you to create Grandpa is Five Again?

I’ll describe to you my thoughts and feelings at that time. Before I started work on this book, I decided to find out more about the process of writing and storytelling. My work is connected with creating books (especially picture books) and pictures for stories, so I have to know not only how to draw, but also how to write text and build a world for the story – how to create it using words as well as illustrations. I thought this knowledge would help me in the illustration process. I wanted to know more, to be better as a professional, and to improve myself. To skip ahead, yes, it did work for me!

I discovered that the process of storytelling is exciting for me, and I came up with so many ideas. Moreover, I wanted to create them with words and pictures. It could be my way to help somebody, to change something, to make this world slightly better by touching the feeling and thoughts of other people, children and adults alike.

Grandpa is Five Again is such a book. It is a picture book about a small boy who has lost his best friend forever. It is difficult but important to talk about death, and I tried to approach it in a fresh way. I talk about how a small child deals with this situation, the sadness and loneliness, using play and imagination. How can this help them to process memories, friendship and love as well as sorrow? I try to explain things from the point of view of a child, in a light and funny way.

I chose this topic because I feel that people often avoid talking about death. I can understand why. It is very hard for adults to deal with emotions that come from it. We get into the habit of protecting ourselves from sad emotions and avoiding difficult topics, and we want to protect children in such a way, too. In lots of families this topic isn’t discussed, because nobody knows what to say.

We need to talk with children about it. We should show them that these emotions are normal, and that death is a part of life. We shouldn’t be scared, because we can’t lose somebody who is in our heart.

I have tried to write a very kind and honest story, full of love, and to create honest illustrations for it. I chose to use traditional techniques (gouache and ink), with a limited color palette for the same reason. It is the most honest way to portray this topic.

I found this idea so important to share with children and adults all over the world – especially now, in hard times, when so many people have lost their homes and families in our country. I am hoping to find the publisher for this book.

7. What projects would you like to work on in the future? Do you have any lined up that you would like to tell us about?

It is a little hard to talk about future plans, but I will try. I am concentrating my attention on two fields: children’s illustration for books and magazines, and packaging designs for brands. Both fields inspire me very much and I have many ideas to offer. So I’d like to find companies and publishers that share my views and aspirations. At the beginning of this year, I had thoughts about organising my own exhibition, but I didn’t manage to begin this process before the war in Ukraine started. I hope I’ll have a better chance in the future, maybe this year or next year.
To talk about my current job. I have two big projects that should be finished soon. One project is a children’s book for a private client. I will have it finished before June if the situation in Ukraine is okay. I’m working on the second project now with a lovely Ukrainian clothing brand. I have three projects that I have been working on for the past four months, but two of them have been delayed because of the situation in Ukraine. One project, with a product and packaging design about Ukraine, will come out soon in May.

This year, I want to find an illustration agency that can represent me in other countries. Of course, I hope to continue working with your magazine. I hope to work more with international publishers and brands, and to find a publisher for my book, Grandpa Is Five Again. I want to continue writing and creating my projects. I feel inspired by this field, and hopefully you will have a chance to see the results soon!

8. What can you tell us about your creative process? How do you find inspiration and plan your work?

It depends on the project. Sometimes it is easy to find an idea, and sometimes I need to spend a lot of time searching, looking for something, even though I don’t know what it is. This process may be familiar to many other creators! When I have a project, I need to find the best concept for its realization.

When I begin, I make a small plan of the project. I write down and draw out roughly what is going to be in each section. During this process, I search for information concerning the project. It can be anything – books, pictures, articles, photos, all of these can help me to figure out the concept. I just put little pencil marks where I think things have to be, because I realize that I can forget about something. I need to see all the details, thoughts and ideas and capture the whole picture of the illustration for the book or packaging.

I create a big mood board and brainstorm for each project. Most of all, I try to find many photos of the people or things that I need to draw. There can be pictures with lovely colors, clothes, patterns or details that I can use to help me create. If I need historical information, I look it up in articles, books etc.

I am inspired by the world around me. My main goal is to be attentive. I don’t close my eyes. Even if I don’t have a project in progress, I still need to observe everything around me (people, situations, nature, things). On the other hand, I am inspired by movies, books, and art of all kinds – especially from different nations, the ancient world, and epochs from medieval to modern times. Different styles of painting, architecture, clothes, and design are very inspiring.

After this, when I have my mood board and concept ready, I start my creative process. I try to work for no more than 6 hours every day (not including weekends) because I believe the best results are achieved when I’m well rested and full of energy. It is very important for me to have a good work/life balance. Of course, sometimes it doesn’t work out that way – but I do my best!

9. Like everyone else, we are looking on with shock at what is happening in your home country. Do you find that being creative helps in some small way to deal with such tragic events?

Yes, in some way. Art has already saved and changed my life. Nowadays, it helps me very much as well. At first, you are shocked and you can’t do anything. Then you have a choice about what information you want to concentrate your attention on. Art is a very personal thing. Every person can express their emotions without words, just using visual symbols, and it helps to unravel your thoughts and keep conscious in any unexpected and unpredictable situation. It can be very helpful to make a daily routine. My daily routine is creation. When I don’t have words, I can talk in the language of art. I have a choice about what to think, feel or do. My choice is to continue creating in any situation.

10. Is there a final message you would like to share with our readers? How can we support Ukrainian artists more?

Be creative, be brave, be yourself. In any situation. do what you can. Be inspired. Keep finding the way forward for yourself. Do only what you want in your soul. The life is short. Don’t stop improving yourself.

I think nowadays that any support is worth much more than we can imagine. I think that the main mission of the creative world is to inform other artists that they are not alone. I feel that many artists have lost themselves in these hard times. They lost their way, their inspiration, and their job. Most of them don’t know that their art is wanted by people in other countries. There are so many creators who are afraid to enter the international market for various reasons, such as language barriers, a lack of information or a lack of self-confidence.

The best way to support Ukrainian artists is to talk to them. To inform them that their art is still wanted all over the world. That European publishers are open to working with the best Ukrainian illustrators and designers, that you are ready to receive their portfolios. Thinking in such a way, we can find so many ways to give support – through exhibitions, portfolio reviews, organization, and supporting art events for illustrators, designers and all other creators in Ukraine and all over the world.

There isn’t only one right way to help. We can find many solutions to support Ukrainian creators. In any case, the most important step is to continue informing other artists that they are not alone.

Audiobooks for Children

Guest blog by author and teacher Alicia Ortego

Common wisdom says that reading is a sign of a well-rounded person – and it is hard to disagree with that. But is it necessary to read books on paper, or are audiobooks a viable alternative?

Nowadays, many people prefer listening to books instead of reading them. Some might claim that this is no substitute for reading text on the page, but researchers have found that listening to books can actually be good for you!

The Benefits of Audiobooks

They’re great to enjoy while travelling!

Playing an audiobook while on a long journey will help the time pass quickly! It gives the whole family something to listen to together, and can provide a welcome break from playing games on a tablet!

They give our eyes a holiday!

Too much reading can be had on our eyes! Reading for too long can cause eye strain, and trying to focus on a book while riding in a car causes car sickness for many people.

Listening to audiobooks can reduce stress!

According to this research, 60% of children said that reading reduced feelings of stress. Kids have become more interested in audiobooks in recent times because they provide a way for them to relax and escape into their imaginations.

Listening to stories puts us in touch with our emotions!

This University College London Study proves that listening triggers more emotions than watching movies. When listening to a book, we expend energy picturing the plot. We focus more, think about it, and get accustomed to using our imagination instead of our eyes. The more we mentally engage with it, the more compelling the story becomes to us.

After a child has listened to an audiobook, why not discuss how it made them feel? This is a good way to discuss our emotions and develop emotional literacy.

Audiobooks help develop listening skills!

This research claims that listening to books increases kids’ vocal skills by teaching them about the importance of pauses, intonation and rhythm. It can also increase vocabulary and sentence-construction skills and teach correct pronunciation of words or names that they might otherwise only see written down. (For example, when listening to Harry Potter, kids get a better idea of how to pronounce names like ‘Hermione’.)

Reluctant readers can enjoy audiobooks!

This study in the Journal of Neuroscience indicates that the brain reacts to stories in the same way if it is read or listened to! This means that children with dyslexia or poor eyesight can benefit from and enjoy books in audio format, even if they might find reading them challenging.

Tips on choosing an audiobook for your child

Children will let you know what they are interested in! If a child is crazy about action and adventure stories, you won’t necessarily be able to make them excited about fairy tales. Be open to exploring subjects that they like!

Discuss the genres your children enjoy and surf the Internet searching for page-turners (audio ones, of course). Make sure they meet these criteria:

• Good recording quality
• A clear, pleasant narrator voice
• Interesting plots
• Positive themes

By finding audiobooks that your children will engage with, you will help them develop their language and comprehension skills while they explore the magic of stories!

Alicia Ortego is a school teacher and children’s book author, who has worked with children foir more than 20 years. Her books are available on her blog: https://aliciaortego.com/books/

Here at Storytime, we create stories for our readers – and we want all of our readers to find characters that they can identify with in our stories. That’s why we believe that diversity matters. How boring would the world – or our magazine – be if everybody looked, thought and talked the same?

This month, we are honoured to have the second guest editorial of the year by the immensely talented Nick Abadzis. He is, amongst many other things, an award-winning comics creator and graphic novelist. He is currently writing and drawing a new book entitled Skin Trouble, which will deal with issues around diversity and representation. Nick is very passionate about the importance of representation in stories and we are so happy to be able to share his thoughts on the matter in our blog. We believe his work is striking and very relevant in bringing greater awareness to this hugely important topic. (c) Nick Abadzis 2022

Why Diversity Matters: A Guest Editorial?

“Diversity” is a word that is often used to describe humanity. We are indeed “diverse,” in that we are many and myriad. Human beings come in innumerable flavours and that, to me, is a fabulous and beautiful thing. It’s our differences, our self-awareness and our ability to co-operate that make human beings the most powerful animal species to ever walk the surface of this planet. Simultaneously, it’s what makes us so dangerous – to all other life that we share this world with, and to ourselves.

Every one of us is unique and as different from one another as is every single snowflake that ever fell out of the sky over our heads. And, like snow collectively, we form a vista that, from a distance, makes it difficult to tell one tiny element apart from another. In that sense, we are certainly more alike than unalike.

On our social, interpersonal, microscopic street level, things can be a little messier. Our societies are intricately structured, imperfect systems whose communications and (social) media generally reduce humankind’s organic complexity to simplistic, often binary terms that ignore or bypass nuance.

Nuance is a perceptual language all its own. Nuance, or the awareness of it, is the kind of emotional intelligence that any healthy society should aspire to teach their kids so that their lives will be as deep, rich and layered as their parents know they are capable of being.

Children are the future, and every good parent wants to equip their offspring with the tools they’ll need to cope with life and an ever faster, ever-changing world. Certainly, no-one wants their child to be seen as less than the set of potentials they present to their parents.

The declaration of human rights states that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” However, no matter how sound our foundational philosophies and intentions, however lofty our aspirations, all human societies remain unfair.

For this reason, representation in media – and all forms of human visual language – is of paramount importance.

Human systems nowadays tend to forsake nuance for brevity, difficult-to-digest facts for easily consumable half-truths or indeed, outright falsehoods. Yet life cannot be reduced to the kinds of absolutes that give us easy answers. Difference and sameness, conformity versus openness to other perspectives – it’s never this simple.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon, and I won’t attempt to examine any of them in detail here, but for the purposes of this short exploration into the importance of representation, it’s worth making the point that when any society seeks to reduce things to an ‘us versus them’ scenario, you know you are at the mercy of a very particular kind of storyteller – the powerful liar.

However, there are ways of approaching the contradictions of the world without either fear or the rhetoric of hatred. To fear is childish, to flounder and even glory in the absence of experience. To conquer fear is the courage of the childlike, to assume curiosity and interest over apprehension and suspicion. It’s in children that we find the many and myriad possibilities of humanity.

As children, we have greater capacity to grow and learn than at any other time in our lives. I’ve found that encouraging active mental channels back to my child-self and the innate, innocent curiosity I had back then – rather than any fear – has almost always enabled me to find pathways forward out of the depressing and stressful periods of my life.

It takes a bit of experimentation and experience to figure out how one’s own emotions really work – to not be controlled by them but make them work harmoniously for you in your everyday experience of the world.

As a professional storyteller, there have been many occasions when I have been asked how one teaches a sense of empathy, of connection, sympathy, rapport. Like any worthwhile project, it’s cumulative and ongoing. Stories equip children with information about the world in advance of actual experience.

Of course, in the realm of storytelling, opposites are useful, as conflict is drama. Good and evil, light and shadow. Left and right, rich and poor, warlike and peaceful, happy and sad. Black and white. Us against Them. Me and the other. Me and Everyone Else.

Tribalism is coded into us, which is why it can be weaponised and used against us. This is why it’s crucial that we teach our children to detect and recognise it and oppose it when it’s being used to manipulate us. Life isn’t black-and-white, or even simply shades of grey – not if we don’t want it to be.

Representation provides nuance. It’s both sophistication and an insurance against division and dehumanisation. Quite apart from that, it gives a child – or the wise adult that they’ll hopefully evolve into – a sense of place in a world that has a greater chance of reaching that aspirational goal of every individual truly being “free and equal in dignity and rights.”

It’s important for any child’s development to see themselves reflected back in the media they encounter. It’s pivotal, for their own imaginative development and evolving senses of empathy and sympathy, to give them the chances to see themselves in others, in fiction, in roles that might inspire them, whether it’s via stories on TV, in film, in literature, in comics, in games, in advertising, in public messaging of any sort. It’s essential for them to be allowed to play out of all sorts of possible roles in their minds (and most parents already know this instinctively).

For all the reasons above, representation is perhaps the most important aspect of all corners of modern storytelling, in whatever creative industry or media spotlight it may occur.

Never before has there been a moment in history when an understanding of difference as a positive has been so crucial. A connection to all our different possible and better selves has never counted like it does now, because it brings about an openness to communication and new ideas that will be essential to our long-term mass survival.

Representation is one of the basic building blocks of fostering such understanding. Representation creates consideration and connection. Never before has it mattered so much that we foster relationships, awareness and understanding between the different peoples of this Earth.

Racial strife, prejudice, differences of belief and opinion aren’t going to go away if we begin to comprehend and represent the wide variety of this world’s inhabitants better, but it’s a good start. This world may be overheating, but it’s still beautiful, full of ideas, passions, sensory experiences and ways of being and seeing that you (and I) will never enjoy directly.

Living those, through stories, via storytellers, via fiction or via documentaries, diarists and journalists… it all makes the scope of life so much vaster and richer than our day-to-day grinds. I can only thank all those sharers of experience for these gifts, for all that insight. It helps me transcend my own parochialism.

One’s own attitude to and perception of the subjects of representation, diversity and inclusion may depend on multiple factors. What I’ve learned in a lifetime of listening and observing is that not many people actually do live in a vacuum, or honestly want to return to a time when we were hunter-gatherers being paranoid about the tribe in the next valley over. “Fear of the other” is the biggest lie humankind ever sold itself. But myths hold power. They shore up all the old systems and still work as the blinkered control-rhetoric of an elite, selfish few who ensure that things stay as they are.

Language is humankind’s oldest technology, and storytelling and shared information our most powerful tool, which is why we should always exercise it and process it thoughtfully. We all have this gene, this ability for telling stories, so tell them well. Don’t live in a world without imaginative sympathy, without benevolent curiosity.

Representation is one of the most important facets of all storytelling, a versatile lens through which we can view ourselves and extend the range of our knowledge and experience. We are humanity. We contain multitudes,  and we can each all live several lifetimes inside of one, if we remain open to those possibilities.

We would like to thank Nick for taking the time to share his perspective with us. We hope you have found it as inspirational and thought-provoking as we did!

You can read more from Nick at his blog: https://www.nickabadzis.com/blog

We also recommend checking out Skin Trouble when it is released – we will be sharing it in our channels too and can’t wait to read it. Younger readers are sure to enjoy his comic Pigs Might Fly, which features spectacular illustrations too. It’s a fun adventure story about Lily Leanchops, who invents a flying machine to take on some wicked warthogs. We love it!

We here at Storytime believe it’s vitally important to talk about mental and emotional health – that’s why we discuss these topics on this blog and in the My Mind Matters section of the magazine every month.

Children’s Mental Health Week is being held on 7-13 February 2022, and this year’s theme is Growing Together. You can find out more about it here. Useful resources from the Red Cross can downloaded here as well.

This year, we have joined Children’s Mental Health Week by giving away a complete set of activity books by author, blogger and psychotherapist Becky Goddard-Hill in our monthly competition on Social Media. These wonderful volumes are sure to inspire children to learn about their emotions through play, and we were lucky enough to get a chance to chat with Becky about her work and find out more about what inspires her too!

Storytime: You have been really busy writing your books and your excellent Emotionally Healthy Kids blog! Can you tell us a bit more about what inspired you to start blogging?

Becky Goddard-Hill: Before I had children, I was a social worker and ran a small private psychotherapy practice for kids. I loved working with children and helping them feel strong, empowered, resourceful and able to cope with life’s challenges.

I stopped doing face-to-face work when I had my own kids, but I still had time to write. Sharing what I knew online at Emotionally Healthy Kids seemed to be a great solution. In recent years I have started direct practice again, but I still love vlogging, podcasting and writing for and about emotionally healthy kids.

Storytime: How crucial do you think it is to focus on mental health and discuss it openly, especially after the challenges of the last couple of years?

Becky Goddard-Hill: Good mental health makes home and school life easier, happier, smoother, and better in every way. Promoting it should be at the heart of parenting and education, in my opinion!

Life has been tricky for everyone over the past few years, and children have experienced living with uncertainty, poverty, stress, and illness, away from their friends and the security of school and their usual routine. This has made many children feel isolated, insecure, and anxious. It is so important to support children and help them to feel stronger, more resilient, and more confident so they can cope with life and the challenges it brings.

Storytime: Your books encourage creativity and interaction with nature. What role do you think they can play in nurturing children’s mental health?

Becky Goddard-Hill: Nature is healing, it is accessible, and it is free, so it makes a wonderful play resource for children! Even kids living in urban environments can visit parks, cloud-watch, plant wildflower seed bombs and explore. Connecting with nature is therapeutic as well as fun – it slows down children’s busy minds and helps them relax whilst also making them feel connected to and protective of the world around them.

Creativity has a similar absorbing and mindful effect, allowing kids’ worries about the past and fear of the future to subside as they focus on the present, using their imaginations and getting lost in what they are making. The flow of creative pursuits is wonderful for stressed minds and one of the key sources of deeper happiness.

Storytime: Could you share any tips on how we can encourage creative play with their children on a day-to-day basis?

Becky Goddard-Hill: We need to make time for play, so try to avoid back-to-back scheduled activities!

Storytime: How important do you think storytelling is for developing a creative environment at home?

Becky Goddard-Hill: My books contain lot of stories of real-life heroes, of inspiring historical figures and awesome inventors. Stories are amazing!

They are also a brilliant way to share messages of resilience and problem-solving, introduce kindness superstars and diversity issues, celebrate uniqueness, and so much more.

Children love stories, and they help to start conversations that are so important in a creative and emotionally healthy home. Stories allow the imagination to take flight, inducing feelings of calm and passion, adventure and resolution. They need to be at the very centre of a creative home.

Storytime: Have you considered writing stories for children as well or talking about emotional mental health through stories?

Becky Goddard-Hill: Yes, I have done this a few times for children I have worked with to help them through specific issues, and this is something I am looking to do more of for the public in future.

Storytime: We are very happy to be sharing the “Create your own…” series bundle with our readers this month. They highlight calm, happiness and kindness as very important emotional concepts. Would you suggest reading them in a particular order?

Becky Goddard-Hill: They can be read in any order, and the activities can be dipped in and out of, too! I would say that if your child is experiencing a low mood, start with Create Your Own Happy. If they get stressed, start with Create Your Own Calm, and if they struggle with being kind to themselves, start with Create Your Own Kindness. There are a wide variety of fun activities in the books, and they are so beautifully illustrated that kids find them very appealing. I hope your children will enjoy taking a good look though and picking out the activities they like.

Storytime: This week we celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week – but it is something we should focus on all year around. Could you share three mentally healthy habits we can add to our little ones’ routine to help raise emotionally healthy children?

Becky Goddard-Hill: You are so right! We do need to focus on it all year round, daily when possible. These habits can help:

Affirmations

Affirmations are a lovely way to start the day! As your child brushes their teeth each morning, have them repeat one of the following sentences to themselves so they feel confident and clear about their capabilities as they start their day:

• I am strong
• I am kind
• I am a good friend
• I can do difficult things

Gratitude

Gratitude is a proven way to help reduce stress and promote habits of positive thinking. Make it a habit for your child to say what they are thankful for on the way home from school or over dinner – and share your own gratitude, too!

Self-kindness

Self-kindness is a key concept to teach kids! We want it to become so ingrained that it will become their natural response to tough times.

Encourage your child to make a list of all the nice things they can do to cheer themselves up. Ideas could include:

• Listening to music
• Snuggling in their favourite blanket
• Cuddling their pet
• Taking a long bath
• Rereading their favourite story
• Calling their grandma

Have them keep their list somewhere safe. Suggest that they do something on that list every day, and add to it all the time! Explain that whenever they are feeling down, self- kindness can lift them up – and they should choose an activity from their list.

Learning to meet tough times with increased self-love is a positive mental health habit for life! It is never too early to teach kids to be positive, grateful and self-caring. The teen years can be tricky, and kids need coping strategies in place in order to deal with them well.

Storytime: Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today, Becky! I’m sure our readers will find your books and blogs invaluable!

You can check out Becky’s blog at https://emotionallyhealthykids.com/.
Her books can be found at https://harpercollins.co.uk/collections/books-by-becky-goddard-hill or on Amazon here.

What good habits are you putting into practice this year? Share your thoughts with us – and keep following My Mind Matters! every month! For our part, we are grateful to have such awesome readers and the opportunity to share our stories and creative activities with you all. We look forward to bringing you another year of fun and happiness in the pages of Storytime!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope 2022 will be an exciting year to us all! We thought we would kick start it by inviting some guests to our blog this year! We work with some amazing people – and have some lovely friends creating stories all over the place. So we decided to ask them to share thoughts, ideas and stories with our readers and hopefully, we will learn a lot of new things too!

This month our guest is the writer, artist and master storyteller Nick Abadzis. Over the course of his career, he has written for Marvel and DC Comics, created a series of amazing children’s books (Pleebus Planet) and even written for the Bob the Builder TV series. In 2007, he released a graphic novel called Laika, about the first dog in space. It won an Eisner award and several other international storytelling prizes. He recently teamed up with Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia to create a ground-breaking ‘extended reality’ film about Laika, which takes viewers along on the dog’s trip into space.

Nick can tell stories in any format – he has written graphic novels, scripts, fiction, non-fiction and he even does voiceovers… so he REALLY knows what stories are made of! People often ask Nick for advice. In this blog, he agreed to share his wisdom with us. If you love stories as much as we do, you will be fascinated to read about the secrets of a great storyteller! We hope it will also prove inspiring to any readers who dream of writing their own tales.

What Makes A Good Story?

No-one in the world is interested in hearing a bad story, or rather, a poorly told one. There are a lot of good stories out there, so perhaps the question should really be, “What makes a great story?” What makes a story so compelling and unique that you just have to hear it, want to read it, need to watch it?

Storytelling is something all human beings do, whether it’s a casual gossip, a joke to warm up a room or conversation to exchange information. That’s the great advantage evolution gave our species – language, via which we can co-operate, plan, compete, persuade, convince and inspire.

Conversation itself takes many forms – from discourse to dialogue, diatribe, debate and discussion – and is both simple and beguilingly complex. It can be straightforward or it can be sophisticated, it can be weaponised or it can be immersive, generous and transformative.

Storytelling, as a function of human communication, also takes many forms and is inherent in human beings – it, like language itself, is hardwired into us. Like conversation, it is infinitely malleable and is one of the oldest technologies human beings possess, older even than fire.

In that sense, we are all experts. We all know what we like. We might not all know when we are being lied to, but we do know when we are intrigued or entertained by a story. We all have an instinct for storytelling. There is no greater truism than, “It’s the way you tell ‘em,” whether it’s a politician on TV selling an idea, a dramatist convincing a producer to put on her play or simply a parent telling their child a good bedtime story.

What we all want to know is, how do I make a good story great? How do you tell a tale that cuts through all the chatter that simply must be heard by those whose attention you capture with that vital first line? If you capture one person’s attention and they like your story, they will spread the word, via conversation, via recommendation, via social media, and before you know it, you have an audience. Capturing their attention is one thing, holding onto it quite another. There are so many skills to master in storytelling.

Marshalling one’s own desire to be a storyteller or writer of any kind is a brave thing to do. Like any endeavour, it begins with a single step – a decision to do it, to embrace the idea and decide to live with it; to become it and make it a part of you. A beginning or a change of any kind takes courage.

Now you just need some ideas to develop.

One of the questions that professionals will tell you they regularly get asked is, “Where do you get your ideas from?” It’s a question that’s often derided as banal, daft, simplistic. It is, however, a question that articulates the basic uncertainty and curiosity that lies at the root of all storytelling, whether poor, good or great.

For me, the short answer to where my ideas come from is that I make them up. I have a Muse who, if she is in a good mood, supplies them to me. The longer answer is that they come from observing the world, observations and insights being the raw material that then gets processed through my own highly individual, internal filter of creativity. This is your greatest creative asset: no one sees or experiences the world how you do and if you have a manner of expressing yourself in a way that connects with people, you’re already on your way.

What makes a good story? You do.

In the end, it’s all you. A story becomes good by simply telling it once, twice, more, by experimenting with it, stretching it, reshaping it. As we all know, any story changes when retold in conversation – it gets embellished, events get reordered for dramatic or humorous effect, the tone of it can change according to your listeners’ reactions. It changes again once you write it down or begin illustrating it.

Stories are mutable, flexible, elastic. By telling your story seriously, or by telling it humorously, by choosing a method by which to tell it or frame it, you’re already crafting it in your own unique way. If you’re starting out as a writer, a storyteller or narrative artist of any sort, finding your own voice is the most important thing you’ll ever do.

Thing is, if you tell yourself that, it can be daunting, so it’s just as important to play. Don’t set yourself impossible tasks before you’ve fooled around a little and had some fun. Try telling yourself a deliberately bad story to see what happens.

The stories you like are not just signifiers of your own tastes, they’re signposts to the kinds of tales you’d like to tell. They’re clues to the path of your own creativity and your own good stories. Follow them.

On your way, always remember that mantra: What makes a good story? You do.

A good story is an artefact of sorts, whether constructed from words or imagery. It’s a coral skeleton of impressions, embers of a campfire left by a narrator who once stayed there into which you breathe new warmth with your own mind and imagination.

Finding your own sense of confidence shouldn’t feel like climbing a mountain in a day; it should feel like exploring it, camping on it, noting the changes in weather from the base to the craggiest peak. One day, if you get to know it, you’ll wake up and find that you have the confidence to push forward, to scale that mountain to the top and maybe see what’s beyond.

That way lies the land of the exceptional storytellers.

Nick writes about his books, storytelling and many other subjects on his blog, which you can find here: https://www.nickabadzis.com

You can also buy his books by following the links on this page: https://www.nickabadzis.com/test

Christmas Self-Care Crackers

Sometimes the very best gift is not something that we want, but something that we need. With that in mind, the Storytime elves have wrapped up something a little bit special for you – a guest blog by counsellor and wellbeing expert Jessica Bowers. She writes the amazing entries for the My Mind Matters! section of Storytime, and she has come up with a fantastic list of ways we can take care of ourselves during the holidays…

There is more to self-care than allowing ourselves a treat every now and then. It is about maintaining daily habits that of protect and promote our own happiness, health and well-being – particularly during stressful and busy times.

At a time the winter nights draw in and we recover from the trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has never been more important to look after ourselves by practicing self-care.

As parents, carers and teachers, we are continually giving of ourselves to take care of our children’s needs – and our roles are challenging and multi-faceted. I am sure you have heard the saying, ‘you can’t pour from an empty cup’ – this is certainly very true!

It’s important to take time to think about your current self-care practices and consider where improvements might be made. Are you currently experiencing any of these signs, which might indicate that your self-care needs improving?

• Feeling more tired, irritable, stressed and/ or overwhelmed than usual
• Experiencing changes in concentration levels
• Eating and drinking more or less than usual
• Changes in your usual social interactions
• Sleeping less than or more than usual

Self-care practices can easily be incorporated into our daily routines. Even comprise of 2–5-minute activities can be invaluable if you are short of time. These could include:

• Sensory activities such as breathing in fresh air or cuddling your pet
• A hobby that gives you pleasure, like knitting or baking.
• You might prefer more spiritual activities such as reading inspiring quotes or lighting a candle.
• Physical activities might include stretching, yoga, dancing and even napping.
• Connecting with others and arranging a chat with a friend might be great too.

Self-care can include acts of giving to others; my passion as a wellbeing writer was borne from the limited ways in which I could practice self-care during the first lockdown. However, I should note that if the act of giving becomes part of your stress and pressure, then it is no longer in the service of your own wellbeing.

This Christmas, more than any other, will be a time to celebrate and get together with our loved ones. Here are some self-care practices for you and your family to try this festive season. If you do make a New Year’s Resolution next year – I invite you to consider prioritising your self-care!

• Wrap up and go for a crisp winter walk in the fresh air as a family to blow the cobwebs away
• Plan a Christmas Movie Night with pyjamas and treats to share
  Practice giving gratitude for 5 minutes each day as part of your daily routine
• Light some candles and enjoy the warm glow in the evenings
• Look for some mindful, breathing exercises that you could do together while listening to some peaceful Christmas music
• Go to the library together and choose some festive books and stories to read during the holidays
• Find some new podcasts to enjoy whilst you do your household chores
• Try something new – maybe a new recipe or Christmas craft activity.
• Take it in turns to plan your favourite meal once a week.
• Create a home spa with face packs and nail painting – and give each other massages and foot-rubs
• Do some yoga and stretches together – Cosmic Kids yoga have some very engaging free online sessions suitable for younger children
• Download and play the Self-Care Bingo game from Storytime issue 88 and see if you can tick all the boxes on your table this season!

Remember, practicing good self-care will have a positive effect on your children. They can learn how important it is to take action to care about and look after themselves in positive ways too. In ‘My Mind Matters!’ this month, we have introduced the topic of self-care to your children and linked it with the festive period as well.

We will be looking into this topic in more detail in the future, as it is important all year round! Starting anything new takes conscious effort as well as a bit of discipline and practice – but it is totally worth it!

I hope you have enjoyed reading our ‘Christmas Self-Care Crackers’! Wishing you all a Merry and relaxing Christmas and a New Year full of joy and stories to share!

Jessica is a mother of 3 children, a wellbeing writer, and a counsellor and psychotherapist. Prior to this, she worked with children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties for over ten years.

She has written a series of wellbeing-themed children’s picture books, aimed at 4-7-year-olds. The first is titled Fantastic Fin Faces his Fears – it is available on Amazon.

Jessica is now delivering her ‘Get Active with Emotions’ workshop in schools, and gives talks about the books she has authored. Visit her website for more information: www.jessicabowers.co.uk

Email: enquiries@jessicabowers.co.uk.

Facebook and Instagram: @jessicabowerswellbeingwriter

Twitter: @bowerswellbeing.

This month, we have some very big news: our magazine has now been published in China, with issue 1 hitting the shelves in October.

We’ve always created Storytime with a global audience in mind. We know that great stories are universal and celebrating the wonderful diversity of tales from around the world is a core part of who we are – and because of this we are fortunate to have a strong licensing programme around the world. But few Western magazines get released in China and the process of approval can be long, which makes this opportunity particularly exciting for us.

We’ll be working with local publishers, Muse Future, who will be adapting and translating our content into Chinese, but the stories and activities will remain largely the same. Though we have always included Chinese stories in Storytime because it is such a culturally rich place, our partners are also interested in the high quality of illustrations, the diversity of the content and stories from other cultures, in particular our real-life tales and fairy tales too.

The new audio versions of our stories (available on the Storytime Hub) will feature on their Storytime website from early next year too! We are beaming with pride and excitement to see the magazine we create every month gain a new audience.

Ji Rongchang, Editor in Chief & CEO of Muse Future Ltd had this to say

“I first came across Storytime in 2018. The illustration on the cover was beautiful, and the magazine was not only attractive on the outside but also had so much inside, with a great variety of worldwide stories, fables, legends, folk tales, adventures and more, plus no ads whatsoever.

My little boy loved it as much as I did, and I felt eager to introduce Storytime into China share it with all the other Chinese children immediately! Storytime magazine is one of the most popular children’s magazines in UK, but such a brilliant magazine will surely do good for children around the world. We’ll join hands to produce more exciting stories for the kids in UK, China and other countries in the future.”

Of course, Chinese culture is very rich and full of great stories. Storytime has always featured many of them and celebrated their traditions in our Around the World Tales section. To mark our Chinese debut, we would like to mention five of our particular favourites! Be sure to check them out and let us know which one is your favourite.

‘The Monkey King’ (Storytime #83)

‘Journey to the West’, a classic Chinese adventure story. The story has been told and retold innumerable times over hundreds of years in books, comics, live action, animation and on stage. To say that this story is influential is an understatement and it was a special treat for us to do our own interpretation of it! What can we say? We can’t resist a story about a cheeky monkey hero with kung fu superpowers!

‘The Emperor’s Race’ (Storytime #41)

This myth tells the story of how the Chinese zodiac came to be and how the order of the twelve animals was chosen. Kids are sure to love this action-packed, zany tale about animals taking part in a celestial race. Stories like this one are great at giving us insights into other cultures, teaching us something new, while being great fun at the same time.

‘How the Moon Became Beautiful’ (Storytime #87)

Of course, not all stories need to be action packed. This is a dreamlike, tranquil tale with a beautiful message. It tells of how the moon was once dark and dreary, but gained the ability to glow when he was taught the importance of kindness and gentleness by young lady called Tseh-N’io – brought to life with luminous art from illustrator Tilia Rand-Bell

‘Shadow Puppets’ (Storytime #80)

Shadow puppet plays are much beloved in China to this day, and this is a legend about how they came to be. The emperor of China is heartbroken when he loses his wife. One of his advisors comes up with a brilliant idea: using shadow-puppets to tell stories that remind the emperor of his beloved. This touching, heartfelt legend demonstrates the great healing power that stories can have.

‘The Four Dragons’ (Storytime #20)

No listing of classic stories would be complete without mentioning dragons – and this is an all-time favourite. These magnificent creatures are guardians and protectors in Chinese mythology, and the gorgeous art in this story really bring them to life.

We have heard that stories are 22 times more memorable than facts, and that’s one of the many reasons that stories can play such a powerful role in bringing people together from all over the world. Long may they continue to do so – and we look forward to helping our readers travel to distant and faraway places with every issue! Thanks for joining us in giving a warm welcome to our Chinese readers!

Read Happily Ever After,

The Storytime team