Imagine you are a stork. Your main job, in fact your only job in life, is to deliver babies. The problem is that you can’t fly. What are the options? You could give up, or you could walk, but either way you feel like you are not a proper stork, a sub-standard stork. You are not as good as your peers and you fee a little sad. Well this is how Bindee feels in these amazing stories of Kevin’s. Children the world over will be able to identify with that feeling of not being good enough. Even the most robust, confident children can have times when they just don’t feel that great about themselves. Let’s face it, we adults can have our ‘off days’ when nothing seems to go right as well.
In this storybook, Bindee, much to his delight, is given a task. He has to take a birth certificate to the Wizard in a far off castle and then collect the baby and deliver it. This seems insurmountable given that he can’t fly, yet off he goes on this very long journey to the Wizard’s castle. We really feel for him as all the other storks fly off leaving him alone and wondering how on earth he will make it to the castle which seems almost impossible. So he takes the first step and as readers we want him to succeed. There’s something quite profound about this first step and we want child readers to make this with him.
Bindee sets off and along the way he meets various animals and birds, each of whom has a message for him about believing in himself, being strong, having courage, being caring and that beauty comes from inside. The messages are relayed in verse that makes them stand out from the story so that they have great impact for the child reader.
Parents and teachers will endorse the messages of the book that are set amongst the most delightful illustrations. As if the story, messages and images weren’t enough to draw you to the book, it has a special connection for the child. So that children feel extra special, when the book is ordered the purchaser enters the child’s name. The book is then created around the child’s given name and the animals Bindee meets spells out the child’s name at the end of the book.
As a children’s therapist I think this book goes a long way towards encouraging children with positive messages in an entertaining and engaging manner. I know parents and children will love the idea and it will be a perfect gift for a birthday or as a confidence booster for children at difficult times. Children can find change very challenging and whilst we know that life goes on and we have to make the best of things, children’s worlds are much smaller and more intense. Change affects them more deeply and leaves them feeling unsure and vulnerable just like Bindee. They will go on this journey with him and emerge believing in themselves, feeling stronger and more resourceful.
Overall it is an excellent and well-conceived concept that will delight children and adults of any age.
Judy Bartkowiak is a children’s author/editor and NLP Trainer and Coach with NLP Kids.
