AN AUTHOR from Abersychan has released a new children’s book to help youngsters understand the coronavirus pandemic.
Rachel Cully, 47, an education consultant in Torfaen, has produced the latest instalment in her Talac Gang series – featuring a group of dragons who help children use maths to help answer some of the frequently asked questions from the pandemic.
How to be a Covid-19 Superhero features a world in lockdown, and explains how readers can work out how far to socially distance, how long to wash their hands, and what to do to keep entertained while in lockdown.
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“All my work has stopped as I work with schools in Wales,” said Mrs Cully. “I thought how would the Talac Gang react, and I think it would be to help children with their maths, especially when they are learning from home.
“I thought it would also help for when they are going back to school to understand social distancing.
“Some children will really struggle to understand why they have to keep two metres apart.
The book helps explain some of the coronavirus rules and how to follow them. Picture: Rachel Culley
“If you can make it fun and more like a game it’s more likely they are going to be able to understand it. It’s also not as scary for them when you frame it like this.
“Part of the reason I did the series was to help schools bring the new curriculum in. I try to help promote a love of maths.
“It’s about taking a conceptual understanding of maths, and instead of teaching a formula, it’s about how it can be applied in the real world - which is big in the new curriculum.”
The book is available in paperback, but also online and free to download as a PDF.
The book is the latest in the Talac Gang series. Picture: Rachel Culley
“That was important to me as I wanted to make sure as many people had access to it as possible,” said Mrs Cully. “I’m working with one of the schools I work with to translate it in to Welsh too.”
Mrs Cully is asking children to send in their photos, drawings and writing about what Wales was like during lockdown to create a scrapbook of Wales for the dragons, which she hopes to publish.
“I thought it would be a nice thing for the children to do at home and in school,” she said. “It’s a chance for them to be published in a book, and it will also go online.”
Anyone interested can send their work, with a permission slip found on the website, to Rachel@CullyEducation.co.uk
You can read the book at cullyeducation.co.uk/how-to-be-a-covid19-superhero
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