06 July 2015
We are delighted to welcome new author Avril McDonald to the agency and announce that she has signed her first deal with Crown House Publishing for a series of six children's books (five children's books and a teacher's accompanying book) to help tackle personal, social and emotional development in children.
Avril is originally from New Zealand, trained as a primary school teacher then worked really hard to become a Managing Director of a Digital Entertainment Company in London and became a mum. She is the Managing Director of Feel Brave Limited and specialises in transforming ideas into reality and making them thrive. A desire to create beautiful characters and stories that help kids manage tough emotions and feel brave (because we all have to be a little brave sometimes) led her to develop www.feelbrave.com and continue on the delightful yet challenging (and at times emotional) journey of bringing it to life along with an exciting charitable arm www.friendsoffeelbrave.com which has the vision ‘To give all children access to tools to help them manage tough emotions and reach their true potential’.
The books will be illustrated by Tatiana Minina, and will enable children aged between 4 and 7 to learn practical mind tools from the ground up through lovable characters and their stories. Teachers and parents will be able to support their learning from the top down with the accompanying teacher/parent guidebook full of practical ideas and every day activities.
Each of the five books will cover a specific learning area of the current national curriculum such as ‘managing feelings and behaviours’ or ‘self-confidence and self-awareness’. The teacher/parent guidebook will help make this series a simple and practical resource for schools.
'I am thrilled that the Feel Brave books have found their perfect home with educationally focused Crown House Publishing,’ said McDonald of the new partnership. ‘In our distracted world and with increasing pressures on children to grow up quickly, teachers and parents are often left searching for answers on how to help children learn to deal with their emotions to reach their potential which is what Feel Brave sets out to do.’Book 1 'The Wolf is Not Invited' and Book 2 'The Grand Wolf', are set for publication in February 2016, with the following books due to follow in April 2016. The “Feel Brave” App is now live and available for download on iOS and Android.