Dog‘s tale gives youth paws for thought

Luyolo Mkentane

A PORT Elizabeth children‘s author said she was bent on introducing interesting subjects in a non-threatening way that would cause people to reflect on the stories they read.

Lesley Cawood, a former Collegiate Junior teacher from Richmond Hill in Central, is the author of children‘s book, A Royal Dog, which she penned at the end of last year and was published in June.

Cawood said the book, illustrated by Rachel Main, was an imaginative story about a black and white corgi, Tara, living in Richmond Hill, who has aspirations of living in a palace like England‘s royal corgis.

Tara goes all out searching for a queen in South Africa to fulfil her dreams, but to no avail. Tara sent Queen Modjadji an e-mail saying she wanted to live in a palace like the corgis in England and that she could be her guard dog.

However, the Rain Queen turned her down, saying she had many guards who protected her. “If I gave you the job of looking after me they (guards) would be without work,” replied the Rain Queen.

Tara soon discovers that you don‘t need to live in a palace to be happy.

Cawood said Tara‘s story highlighted that it‘s not a good idea for children to leave their homes because “a home is best and it‘s a good place to be”.

Cawood, who read the story about four months ago to Emafini Primary Grade 7 pupils in Kwadwesi, said: “The story got the pupils thinking about queens and chiefs and about who they really were. Some of them didn‘t know about Queen Modjadji... (but) it was fun to read to them.”

She added that the story brought in a little history because “stories are a great way of making sense of our world”.

Some of Richmond Hill‘s streets like Mackay and Sherlock are illustrated in the book because “our children need something they can recognise... to know about their environment”.

Cawood, who for the last eight years has been training in-service teachers, among other things, said: “I have always been passionate about stories. As a teacher I used stories as a great deal in my work because they make sense of our world.”

The book is available at Walmer‘s Fogarty‘s and Pickwick Books.

Life