Five pupils of Kamblos Nursery & Primary School in Lagos were on Sunday celebrated for authoring three books titled: “The Haunted World”, “The Beautiful and Honest Child” and “The Brave Boy and other stories”.
The Publisher of Genius Books, Dr Mary-Joan Nwaogu, stated this at the young writers’ Book Launch and the 2024 Graduation and Prize Giving for outstanding pupils of the school in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the, “The Haunted World” was authored by Marvelous Innocent; “The Beautiful and Honest Girl” was authored by Cherish Ifeanyi.While “The Brave Boy and other stories” was authored by three pupils: Eze Use, Angel Olanrewaju and Chikezie Prosper.
Nwaogu said the children were able to tell and write stories because they had gone through a book writing programme which she organised for them to discover their talent.
She said she usually went to schools to teach pupils how to write stories, especially children who like to tell and write stories.
The publisher explained further that she helped them to put their stories together, do their casting and get their books right.
“So if children can be constructive about their stories but do not know how to put them down then they should not be denied the opportunity of putting down their stories in black and white.
“I know that a lot of children can write and tell stories so we use the opportunity to groom them. If you go to some schools so many of them write stories but they don’t know how to continue and how to publish it.
“So we use that opportunity to put them through by assisting them to publish their books and market their books to schools.
“I have trained about 20 children but only seven have so far had their books published,” she said.
Earlier, the Proprietress of the school, Mrs Favour Osuji, said she was excited about the book launch because it would further inspire other talented pupils to toe the line of inspiration in writing stories and getting them published.
The proprietress said they had a writers’ club in the school where they encouraged the pupils and brought out the best in them, adding that most of them loved telling stories and putting them in writing.
She said: “I am excited about the books being launched because they are new babies, the first of its kind. We have been grooming these children through the Writers Club Society.
“Though we never thought of writing books anyway but when we now noticed that some of these children love writing. At times. I will see these children in their classes with their jotters writing one story or the other.
“It was the Publisher, Dr Nwagwu, that inspired me to publish their stories and I informed their parents that we should bring the talent out of these children.
“We have several of them that have written books but we are just launching only three books believing that subsequently we will have more.”
Osuji advised the parents to continue to encourage their children and help bring out the talent in them, adding that it was not a must that they must become doctors or pilots.
According to her, If a parent discovers talent in their child, they should encourage him or her because he/she can be a lawyer or doctor, and still be a writer.
The proprietress said God had been using her to bring out the talent in the children, adding that even when these books were published some parents did not believe it.
She said that the parents felt that the notice was short for them but in less than a month, the books were published.
“I urge the government to assist pupils who have written stories, but who, for lack of funds by their parents, have been unable to publish.
“If they can get sponsored by the government, I believe other children that have stories and cannot get them published will be encouraged,” Osuji said.
The proprietress said that Sunday being the graduation day, prizes would also be given to outstanding pupils that had performed extremely well for the 2023/2024 session.
Speaking, Miss Cherish Ifeanyi-Osuji, a 10 year old pupil of the school, said the “The Beautiful and Honest girl” centred on love, honesty and humility of a girl.
Ifeanyi-Osuji said she used this book to illustrate how honesty could open several doors, and how it could attract love from both the young and the old.
Also, Marvelous Innocent, a Primary Four Pupil, said the book “The Haunted World” was adapted from a real life incident of what happened in the environment where he lived.
He noted that the story was about the carelessness of parents who leave their children at home unsupervised. (NAN)
By Millicent Ifeanyinchukwu
