BAHRAIN-BASED author Muna Rabieh is launching three new children’s books today, synthesising difficult emotions into colourful animal characters.
The 35-year-old banker-turned-author has already published two children’s books built around animals – The Magical Ostrich in 2015 and Otter in 2019 – and her three new books – Kobe and His Sudden ANGER, Luna and Her Blue Stripes and Freckles and His BIG Worries – will be showcased during a book-reading today.
“During the past year, I decided to write as many stories as I possibly could because they’re a great way to deliver important messages to children and hold space for them by creating worlds that may reflect their experiences,” Ms Rabieh told the GDN.
“Releasing the books together means that every child that comes to learn about one book will have access to the rest as well. Who knows what these children are dealing with every day?
“These books are more than just stories with strong morals, they also include educational add-ons. There’s a section with an emotional toolbox that has tips on how to deal with each emotion, and another one that has fun animal facts.
“My dream is that when a child is feeling low, they’ll pick up my books and find their way back to themselves.”
Kobe and His Sudden ANGER tells the story of a well-behaved octopus who is tired of having his lunch stolen by Pointy, the sneaky swordfish, and loses his temper one day.
The book was inspired by a BBC story about an octopus that randomly punches other fish. Ms Rabieh came across the story, which got her thinking about what could have gotten the octopus in that stage, and thus the tale of Kobe was born.
“Luna and Her Blue Stripes was inspired by the downside of our modern culture where we are constantly told to look, act and speak in a certain way,” the Jordanian-born author explained.
“A number of characters in the book go to great lengths to try and change themselves to fit in only to realise that all they needed to do was love those parts a little bit more!”
Freckles and his BIG Worries was born out of Ms Rabieh’s own tendency to fret over things.
“I imagined which animal would help illustrate the worrier in me and thought of the woodpecker,” she said.
“Now, whenever I worry, I imagine there’s a woodpecker in my head endlessly pecking away and thinking, what would Freckles do?”
The three books, each of which is 32 pages long, have been illustrated by Jordan-based illustrator Noor Alshalabi, and took the duo less than 11 months to write, illustrate and publish.
Ms Rabieh’s anthology of published books revolves around animated animals – a choice initially made so that neither girls nor boys feel alienated.
When writing, Ms Rabieh drew on her own childhood experience as well as six years of working with children, realising that they were often not taught how to deal with difficult emotions.
“A lot of the underlying messaging is that big emotions are shameful – anger is bad, worrying is useless,” she added.
Literature
“In fact, most adults still don’t know how to deal with these emotions because of this. Children’s literature allows you to discuss a heavy topic in a very light way. My stories are often layered, and are intended to plant seeds in the subconscious mind at an early age.
“Writing about someone else who is exhibiting similar behaviour may allow you to address the person when their defences are down, making it more likely for them to hear what you have to say. The idea is not to point fingers but rather have them self-reflect and choose to learn as a result. ”
Ms Rabieh will be reading the three new works at Neo Books and Coffee today at 10am.
naman@gulfweekly.com
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