There was great excitement at the launch of the children’s book ‘Eco-heroes Recycling Trip Trouble’, at a reception held in Dubai yesterday. The book is the first in a series created by ‘Save our World’ to engage and educate children on sustainability and environmental issues. ‘The Eco-heroes’ series is created by two Dubai residents; author Colette Barr and illustrator Leona Collins. Published in the UAE, using recycled paper and the Dubai font, the books come with fun facts that are immensely useful to teachers and parents as they seek to educate children about the environment. The launch event was attended by representatives from environmental companies, NGOs, and key figures from UAE education and literature sectors.
Funny and insightful, with stories and characters especially relevant to UAE school-children, the Eco-heroes books feature wonderfully illustrated tales of children embarking on a number of local adventures. In the first book, the children visit a local recycling plant with hilarious and also thought-provoking incidents throughout. The books’ central characters will resonate with UAE-based children; the series features five fictional children who are Emirati, Indian, European and South African ‘The Eco-heroes Recycling Trip Trouble is the first of a series of five, with the other book focusing on energy, plastic, food and water with the other books launching over the next year.
“We are extremely proud to have finally launched the book, however, we are aware that our work has only just began. The Eco-heroes books are about giving children a wonderful resource to learn more about the environment. We want to raise awareness of a serious subject in a fun, relatable and memorable way.” explains Barr, she adds, “To support the book we will be undertaking a number of other projects and initiatives to spread and embed the central message of the series. The more children know about, and appreciate the environment, the more likely they are to protect it.”
Barr and Collins established the new company ‘Save Our World’ to publish the books and also to take forward their ambitious outreach programme to reach schools and communities. Save Our World will be working with partners from environmental companies and other educational groups to create opportunities to engage children and communities on environmental awareness. The website www.SaveOurWorld.me is jammed-packed with activities, learning resources and games, sure to be a valuable tool for inspired learning.
“It is great to see the first book finally released but we are already working hard on the other books in the series and also on our wider educational programme. It has been a pleasure to be given the opportunity to use my skills as an illustrator on a local project. It has been a joyful challenge to create characters that children in this region will relate to – story-lines and characters our kids empathise with are more likely to spur them to action.” adds illustrator Collins.
“Now that the first book is launched we are turning our attention to completing the series and finding other creative and enjoyable ways to teach children how to make the environment cleaner, healthier and more pleasant to live in, anyone who would like to find out how Save Our World can work with their organisation should contact us at getintouch@saveourworld.me.” concludes Barr.
‘The Eco-heroes Recycling Trip Trouble’ is published in English and Arabic and available from www.saveourworld.me and a number of bookstores.