Inspiring kids with new book
A Wearside author has had his first book published, and it will be on the market later this month.
David Swift, from Teal Farm, is a lecturer on primary education at the University of Sunderland.
He has long experience in primary schools, including as a headteacher.
Something he became known for as a teacher was inventing stories and poems to amuse his students.
He has aimed the book at children of primary age.
It is called April the Engineer.
The title character is a girl who dreams of becoming an engineer when she grows up and refuses to be put off by people telling her that she is “only a girl”.
David, 53, has a grownup daughter and son with his wife Lisa, a nurse, who encouraged him to look for a publisher.
The beautifully illustrated book has been taken up by London publishers Austin Macauley, who have shown great faith in the former St Aidan’s pupil.
David said: “I wrote it in 2020. I was on supply teaching duties. I love making up stories for children.
"One girl in my class asked me if I could make up a story about a girl who fixes things.
“So I came up with a story about April, who goes round her town wanting to do just that.
"She meets a lad whose bike is broken.
"She also mends a pushchair and eventually a lorry.
"It’s all written in rhyme, a bit like The Gruffalo; and there’s a recurring phrase that runs through.
“She keeps being told ‘You’re a girl, you can’t help me.’ It challenges stereotypes.
"I had watched the film Hidden Figures a couple of nights before and it put the idea into my head of making April a black girl and having another stereotype to overcome.
“It only took me about 45 minutes to put down in writing.
"Lisa read it and said I should send it to a publisher.
“I’ve got other stories in my head and wrote another a couple of months ago.”
April the Engineer will be released in paperback on January 31 and available through Waterstone’s, from Amazon or directly from Austin Macauley.