Charlie Crisp, a receptionist at The Aquila School, has published his first book, titled ‘Decision Street, which was launched at the Sharjah International Book Festival. Inspired by the pupils he sees every day, the story began as a personal project for Crisp during the school’s summer break.
Aimed primarily at students below the age of eight, the book presents them with experiences in different scenarios
According to Crisp: “Working in a school, you are constantly surrounded by children and, for the past three years, I’ve seen a lot of them flourish academically and socially. It’s quite inspiring. Not being a teacher, I can’t really help from an academic point of view, but I wanted to see if I could help from the social side. As a young child, I had a computer game that, when you got to certain stages, asked me how to continue – ‘To go left press the space bar, to go right press F5’. As a child, I found that incredible. It was me making the choice and not a grown-up. This has stuck with me through the years. The idea of writing a children’s picture book to guide them in certain situations but, ultimately, leaving the children to make the choice, stemmed from these two situations.”
Aimed primarily at students below the age of eight, the book presents them with experiences in different scenarios, where they have to make decisions based on two possible options. They will then be transported to different pages based on their choice. If it is the ‘right decision’ they will be told what the outcome is.
‘Decision Street’ is a rhyming picture book with a unique rhythm
When asked about how long he had been thinking about writing, Crisp replied: “It has been something I have thought about for the past few years. As a parent, I would read bedtime stories to my children and always found the Julia Donaldson books very clever. The stories are fun, but I have been particularly impressed with her rhyming. I personally find rhyming books more fun to read so, after deciding to give this a go, I was determined to make it a rhyming picture book.”
‘Decision Street’ is a rhyming picture book with a unique rhythm. Crisp makes rhymes from different scenarios in the book and has also named two characters after his children.
“At The Aquila School, we aim to instil a love for reading in each pupil. This year we have ensured that ‘Decision Street’ has worked its way into our curriculum, and we have given families the opportunity to buy personalised copies of the book. We celebrate Mr Crisp’s accomplishment and are proud to have a published children’s author in our midst,” said Wayne Howsen, Principal, the Aquila School.