Once upon a time …. in a Kingdom of Words …
There lived a Queen … not a real Queen of course, but nevertheless she definitely fancied living in a fairytale castle one day ….. For the moment she lives in an ordinary house in Cape Town, South Africa with her son and her husband, and two cats. She writes and self-publishes children’s books.
Efforts are focused on encouraging parents, grandparents, teachers or guardians to read to their children from an early age. Readers are created on the laps of the people that dearly love them. Listening to a loved one read is one of life’s free pleasures and is enjoyable at any age.
Reading to a child is an important activity, one that will launch a love for beautiful illustrations which in turn lead to a love for language. This happens long before children are able to read the words on the page themselves. Reading is an opportunity to create a love for books, and will encourage an extensive vocabulary. It is also an incredible learning opportunity to know and understand more about the world we live in.
Caroline was born in Zimbabwe in the 1970’s ~ she was named after her Granny. Granny is Caroline’s original storyteller. As a little girl the young Caroline was enthralled by her Granny’s stories. She shared stories of her growing up years in the early 1900’s in the African bush and her many encounters with wild animals. As a result, these stories, and having always lived somewhere on the continent of Africa, Caroline loves the sensory delight that this diverse continent offers.
Granny used to always chant a nonsensical rhyme to Caroline ~ it goes likes this ~
“Queen Queen Caroline,
Washed her hair in turpentine
Turpentine! Made it shine
Queen Queen Caroline”
These old stories and the silly rhyme is really how ‘Queen Caroline’ came about. Queen Caroline is all about reading and storytelling.
Caroline is a teacher, she spends most of her days in a classroom with thirty children aged between six and nine years old. She believes in fostering good early language skills and is also passionate about being a better citizen of planet earth. Caroline enjoys cleaning up her act, one plastic straw at a time, and sharing this and other interesting information with others.