World Book Day – The ABC of You and Me
World Book Day – The ABC of You and Me
World Book Day and the slogan for this year’s International Women’s Day come together in this blog. “Inspiring Inclusion” is the slogan and that’s the motivation behind the book that we’re featuring for World Book Day.
“The ABC of You and Me,” is a children’s book written by ex-Tonbridge resident Shannon Molver. She is a mother of two daughters who now lives in Aberdeen, Scotland. The book shows 26 children who all have something that makes them who they are, whether it’s Lina who has learning difficulties or Solomon who likes wearing skirts.
What was the inspiration behind “The ABC of You and Me”?
I think it’s really important to give children the opportunity to process new ideas; they learn from such a young age. Kids also have the right to see themselves and to relate to characters in books that they read. Imagine being a child who’s in a wheelchair for whatever reason or a child who has one arm; a child who is neurodivergent or something that they can’t quite explain, perhaps they’re very overwhelmed by things and they never feel represented or have the chance to see themselves represented in a way that everybody else is represented.
I think in terms of racial diversity, books have improved significantly, but I feel that there is still a lack of physical diversity. They just don’t have representation because they never see anybody like them in books. I wanted to give that to the world, and I wanted to make the world a kinder place for my children to grow up in. I wanted to provide them with the space to ask questions before they stand and stare at someone.
The book prompts conversation with your children and allows them to be curious. It gives them the power to be good, tolerant and inclusive human beings by providing them with this foundation.
Do you have any favourite children in “The ABC of You and Me”?
I’ve got two favourites actually.
I like Penelope who has the prosthetic leg. When I was at junior school, a grown-up theatrical production came to the school to talk about something. The main character was this really, wonderfully funny man. He had one leg and he was hilarious: the prosthetic leg wasn’t the focus of the show, but he used it throughout, taking it off and putting it back on. He had us in stitches and we all wanted to be him. We all wanted to be friends with him and talk to him. All I saw was this amazing guy who we all just wanted to be like and I wanted to capture that feeling. He was brilliant and funny and warm and kind, and he was everything that I wanted life to be. Penelope’s based on my memories of him.
The other one that I very much like is Oscar who feels overwhelmed. I’ve been dealing with that a lot in the last couple of years, with my own children, especially my oldest. She gets overwhelmed very quickly and very easily.
I’d say, “What’s wrong?” and she wouldn’t be able to express it, she didn’t understand what she was feeling.
I think it’s really important to make those kinds of emotions normal because there’s nothing wrong. Her biggest fear was that she saw something wrong with herself. And I just felt like writing a character like that and explaining it in in a way that could be easily digested by little minds. Even if they never asked me any questions about Oscar or his overwhelm, it will be there in their minds that it’s okay to feel this way.
All of these characters are relevant in their own way. And I can tell you a story about each and every one of them, and how it inspired me to write that particular person because there is a story for each of the people in the ABC.
The book is really valuable. Ofsted have actually commented that it should be in more places!
Have you managed to find other books like yours?
The other reason why I wrote this book is because there was a lack of anything like it at the time. Since writing it there have been a few more books that have come out with the sort of thing that I’ve written about in the ABC. My children have moved onto chapter books now and I am writing chapter books too but keeping diversity as a theme for my characters. It’s not the central theme – it’s just who they are.
And lastly, how does Aberdeen compare to Tonbridge?!
Well, it’s a city on the northeast coast of Scotland and because of its positioning, we are often treated to displays of the Northern Lights, which is very nice. The skies are awesome. We have the North Sea in front of us and we’ve got the Highlands and the mountains behind us, so it’s very well placed for an outdoors life which is great.
The winter days take a bit of getting used to: Aberdeen’s winter days are only six hours and 40 minutes of daylight, which is tough, I’m not going to lie! You just never see the sun. But the summer days are up to 18 hours a day. It’s a very interesting city and I find that its positioning is quite intriguing.
The entire city was built from the granite that was taken out of a quarry, actually near my house, and it sparkles in the sunlight because of the high mica content inside the granite. That’s why it’s known as the Silver City.
Thank you Shannon – you really are “inspiring inclusion”! If you’d like to buy “The ABC of You and Me”, go to Amazon here and you can find all Shannon’s other books there too. You can follow Shannon on social media @sjmolver
Happy World Book Day – hope it hasn’t been stressful in your house!
Hazel x
Images By: Anne Glad | Photographer
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sjmolver/#