When Christina Castle moved to Singapore 14 years ago, she wondered how to teach children key values like responsibility and happiness in an easy manner. This month, she has released a set of 10 books that feature quirky food characters in the Food ABC book series.
Targeted at primary school children, the books feature one character in each story dealing with challenges that in contemporary life such as digital addiction, sense of unworthiness and persistent unhappiness.
While these topics may sound difficult and hard to understand for young kids, the Food ABC book series strives to impart these lessons in the simplest ways possible without losing the gravity of the message.
Which is why Christina decided to use food characters, to keep the stories relatable and also to promote a healthy diet.
Healthy food ingredients chosen as main characters
When she was doing research for the book series, she found that there were no children books that have a vegetable as a protagonist. She thought it was no wonder that children did not want to eat their greens.
"The use of these characters might just encourage children to eat more greens," Castle said.
The book's title and content were also specially curated to allow kids to learn these tough lessons easily.
"Most children's books are standalone that focus on events. It may be entertaining but the messaging of values tends to be weak. ABC implies both simplicity and a manual," Christina explained.
Parents can look forward to imparting important life lessons like patience, humility, kindness, responsibility, balance, and practice among others through the series.
Teachers are also encouraged to use the book as an enabler to teach about issues children face growing up as digital natives.
Parents can purchase The Food ABC Book series from major bookstores in Singapore.
Price:
Single book: $9.95
Per box set: $99