Awesome Skies

About the Book

The three stories in Awesome Skies, "Beautiful Clouds in the Sky", "Claps of Thunder and Flashes of Lightning", and "Awesome Rainbows"offers simple, exciting and fun methods from which children learn and understand the concept of how things happen around them.

The concepts are unfolded through a dramatic story that explains the subject discussed and then goes on to experiments and observations that can be done in the home and/or classroom with adult/teacher supervision.

It is a handy tool for teachers as it offers them eclectic means of putting information across marrying the Arts, Science, Geography, History and Language. It harnesses children's creativity in terms of their colouring skills, bringing out the children's aesthetic (appreciation of beauty) awareness, stimulating their appreciation of their environment. It harnesses their reading skills, improving their general knowledge and vocabulary, enabling them to articulate themselves in a sophisticated manner at an early age. It involves the children's participation in their learning through the carrying out of experiments in the home and/or classroom.

The book is a multi-sensory approach which heightens their awareness at grasping new concepts rendering the child eager to learn more. The book is not prescriptive or closed - it can be used by a kindergarten child and the same material can be developed to accommodate a grade 5 child. It can also be read to younger children by their parents or members of their family. Plays and projects can be derived from these stories, starting with the nasty drought (getting children to become aware about the importance of water and their environment), the formation of clouds (the desperate rain-dance), going on to thunder and lightning and finally the formation of rainbows, the clearing of the air and the rejoicing of not only people but animals, insects and plants in the celebration of water, this life-giving commodity that refreshes and cleanses everything.

About the Author

For as long as I can remember I had the most vivid imagination, and I've always had a passion for writing and story-telling. From the tender age of nine and throughout my teens I was constantly laid up in bed with asthma and while recuperating I would dream up stories that I would tell to my sisters. I loved Creative Writing at school and my writings were constantly read out to the class by my English teacher. I took part in a play, The Dear Departed, at school and won the Speech and Drama Award that year. I loved acting, but I was always most passionate about writing and storytelling.

I home-published my first book Beautiful Clouds in the Sky in 1997, and my second and third books Claps of Thunder and Flashes of Lightning and Awesome Rainbows in 1998. Due to lack of funds I could not market or advertise the books on a wide scale so I was limited to selling them to my neighbours, friends, relatives and local schools and creches. When I stumbled onto Traffords website on the internet I decided that I was going to take a chance and publish the stories in all 3 books in one book that we now know as Awesome Skies with Trafford.

I am also currently writing a movie script for a Bollywood (Indian) movie and as soon I am finished with this I will start writing my first Fairytale.

I have three sons Theo, Romano and Gavilan. All three are studying at the University.

My dream is to be able to write full-time and get as much of my work published as possible.