Guest Blog Post from Jac Tomlins
How’s that social isolation with the kids going? Jigsaw puzzles? Monopoly? Baking? Or, like me, have you given up the battle of the screens and embraced Netflix and You Tube and Minecraft. This is a marathon, not a sprint, I’ve decided and I’m cutting myself — and them — some slack.
But then, every now and again, I start to feel like a bad parent so I kick them off their devices and shove a book under their nose. It works for a while, but as a compromise, they’ve also been listening to a few audio books and that got me thinking…
Last November, I launched my new book “The Curse of Grandma Maple”, a rollicking mystery, adventure set in the Canadian wilderness about two lots of cousins who spend a summer together. It’s pacey and fun and stuff happens.
What sets it apart from other similar stories is that the Australian kids have two mums, they’re a rainbow family. The book’s not about being a rainbow family — the mums are just there in the background being as annoying any other parents.
My kids have read hundreds of books over the years, bet never one that represented their family. That’s why I wrote it. But it’s a great read for all kids whatever their family is like.
Anyway, I thought as a small contribution to the mental health of parents out there, I’d turn “Grandma Maple” into an audio book and post it out for free. Now, “audio book” is perhaps a little highfalutin — it’s me, reading the story to my phone, and uploading it to Sound Cloud. But I think it works.
You can listen to it here. The whole book is about five hours, 28 chapters in total. Hope you and the kids enjoy. Share and let me know if you do.
Take care.
Jac