Cape Town - A combined passion for teaching and the preservation of culture and the environment sent foundation phase teacher Nicola Obertik on a mission to write books about African fairies.
She started publishing the African Fairy Adventure series in 2019 and has since written other titles.
The series informs children about wildlife, different landscapes, biodiversity and how we co-exist in nature.
“While I am aware that fairies are not really part of African culture, with cultures intermingling in our rainbow nation, I though it would be wonderful to create a series, focusing on the unique wildlife in our country and mingling it with an element of fantasy. These stories also aim to teach children about caring and helping others so that all benefit,” Obertik said.
Obertik released the third edition, “African Fairy Adventure: The Cheeky Drongo and the Meerkats”, in August.
The book teaches about gratitude, trust, and understanding one another’s differences as we see the drongo bird cheating the trusting meerkats and stealing their food. With the help of Yoni the bird fairy, they manage to agree to work together when searching for food.
Yoni tells the drongo bird: “It was very kind of you to have warned the meerkats about the eagle but not very kind to steal from them.” And to the meerkats Yoni says: “It was not very kind of you to not say thank and reward Thathani for saving your lives.”
One of the readers, Alexis Joannides, 8, said the book was great and she liked how the meerkats and Thathani got together in the end. She said could relate to how scared meerkats were. Alexis thinks reading books is a healthy pastime.
Two more books in the series are still to come.
Print copies are available at https://www.ethnikids.africa, https://bookcapital.co.za, and https://www.profoundbooks.co.za. Ebooks are available at Amazon at R130. Email [email protected] for more information.