Kids and Teens
When the author flew to Ghana in February 1971, to take up a
teaching post at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, his
three sons were 9 years, 6 years and 3 months old. As the years passed,
one by one the boys left to attend boarding school in England and the
father took to writing each a letter every Sunday morning.
Kids and Teens
As often as
possible, he tried to send a story with the letter and these proved
popular not only with his sons but with their school mates. When the
stories were sent recorded on tape, the tapes were misappropriated.
Other parents urged the publication of the stories but the effort was
postponed because suitable illustrations were not available. Now that
grandchildren have read the stories, they are to be published in the
hope that their children and many others will also enjoy them.
Kids and Teens
The
true origin of the stories must be traced back to long car journeys in
England in the 1960s, when they were related in answer to the plea 'tell
us a story.' So the characters were well known to the boys before they
read about them at boarding school. The boys spent long summer holidays
in Kumasi and were friends with the children of other lecturers and
professors. Inevitably, the stories were shared and came to the
attention of other parents. One father, employed in the Faculty of
Architecture, pressed for the publication of the stories and offered to
provide the illustrations. The offer was accepted but the pictures never
materialised.
Kids and Teens
This scenario was repeated over the following
years. Sadly, one would-be illustrator passed away before the task could
be accomplished. After this disappointment the drafts languished for
three decades. They were lucky to survive, having been composed on a
portable typewriter, long before the days of word processors or personal
computers. Their revival was prompted by the demands of grandchildren,
alerted to the possibility by their fathers.
Kids and Teens
One grandson produced
a few sketches of the characters in the stories and once again the
issue of publication arose. So the old yellowing pages with faint grey
type were painfully retyped into a Word file in preparation for sending
to a publisher. In this exercise it was realised that in the forty years
or more since the stories were originally composed much had happened to
change perception and understanding.
Kids and Teens
A hidden agenda had always been to
help extent the knowledge and vocabulary of the youthful reader. To
ensure the continuing pursuit of this end some updating was needed, so
an extended period or rewriting then ensued.
Kids and Teens
The matter of
suitable illustrations was not resolved before the task was taken up by a
publisher. There was some delay in finding an illustrator with the
right style, and even after one was selected there remained a few
problems with some characters and locations. The process of final
adjustment was aided by some sketches executed by a granddaughter. So
what began as a family-centred task ended the same way. After gestating
for more than two generations the stories are now set to meet new
families and a new generation of readers.
Kids and Teens
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