Whilst self-help, positive mindset and resilience-building books for young people are available, author Nicola Kesaris questions how accessible and beneficial they are to youngsters.
From this starting point, the author has created the first in a planned series that follows its young protagonist, Vinnie, from primary school through to high school, with each book introducing the reader to new supportive tools and strategies which evolve and grow as they do.
Relevant and with a relatable storyline and main character, the author has written a book that will not only strike a chord with today’s youngsters but has the potential to be a literary game-changer for readers aged 10+.
Promoting a healthy mindset and attitude towards oneself and others, A Hero’s Journey, Year Six – The Awakening is the launchpad of series that needs to be on every school’s reading syllabus. Nicola has recently started doing talks at local schools and the kids are really engaging well in the book concept.
Synopsis:
“Every human on the planet has the potential to be a Hero” explains the strange Orb floating in Vinnie’s bedroom.
A Hero’s Journey, Year Six – The Awakening is the first in a series of books that follow an ordinary boy as a fit of gamer rage causes him to throw his game controller across the room. It shatters and in its place is a mysterious orange orb.
The Orb is on a mission to save Vinnie from ‘The Comfort Zone’ a desolate place where hopes and dreams can be lost forever. There is an ‘Egolian’ inside Vinnie which was created from all the times Vinnie felt scared, angry or let down. It tries to keep Vinnie safe but the only way it knows how to do this is by keeping Vinnie well and truly in the ‘Comfort Zone.’
Self-help, positive mindset and resilience-building books for young people are out there, but are they truly accessible to our youngsters? To our reluctant readers? Do they really speak to them on their level? Or do kids feel like it is just another ‘lesson’ on top of the work they already do at school?
Using humour kids will enjoy and which adults may baulk at, simple to use strategies and tools are explained allowing the reader to see these in action as Vinnie uses them in real-life situations.
QR codes throughout the book fully engage the reader as they experience first-hand The Orbs teachings for themselves.
A Hero’s Journey series highlights the trial and tribulations encountered by famous people who have mastered their own Egolians and using QR codes allows the reader to allow the reader access to short films explaining the rise and determination of individuals including Walt Disney, Will Smith, Arthur Ashe, Mo Farrah and body builder, Nick Santonastasso.
Each chapter is a new day, and it begins with the narrator talking to the reader as they observe the strange situation Vinnie finds himself in. The Narrator is a mysterious entity, not of this world yet somehow familiar.
Between them, the narrator and reader make sense of The Orbs teachings and at the end of each chapter, the Narrator recaps the days' events with an entertaining poem to reinforce what they have seen.
Vinnie writes The Orbs teachings in his notebook which are included at the end of each chapter. The Narrator and reader sneak a peek at these notes to further reinforce the strategies.
The author says:
“There are a lot of self-help ‘story’ style books for younger readers, but the books aimed for our tweens and teens tend to be more of a workbook style concept which I believe is too teachy and can be off-putting particularly for boys. My books take a multitude of concepts that have been knocking about since Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich book and which have been rehashed many times in the adult self-help market. A Hero’s Journey repackages these concepts for a tween/teen audience.”
Independently published, A Hero’s Journey, Year Six – The Awakening is available in paperback (£7.99) on the author’s website https://bit.ly/3CCJQ5S and on Amazon at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/
For each book sold a donation of 50p will be given to the Speedomick Foundation, a charity which helps small regional charities around the country aimed at helping young people through education, relieving poverty and supporting mental and physical health –www.thespeedomickfoundation.
A second book ‘A Hero's Journey – Year Six – The Beginning of the End is due our this Summer
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