Indie Pen-Dance Wednesday - Spotlight on Carole P. Roman, author extraordinaire and her brilliant range of fact and fiction books for young readers

Brimming with enthusiasm, and with so many great ideas, we were extremely lucky to receive a lovely parcel of books and goodies from self-published author Carole P. Roman, all the way from the USA.

Carole began writing as a dare from her two sons, and has since become a Kirkus Reviews award-winning author. Turning her hand deftly to fiction (with her fabulous pirate creation "Captain No-Beard" - a character based on her grandson, with grand-daughter as first mate on the Flying Dragon) and non-fiction (with her fascinating range of books examining life in other countries with the "If you were me and lived in..."), Carole's books are colourful and engaging.



We first took a look at Captain No-Beard. Tapping into a child's vivid and wonderful imagination is a neat trick if you can pull it off, and Carole does with aplomb. Captain No-Beard imagines amazing adventures aboard his ship The Flying Dragon. Aided by Hallie, his first mate, they set sail for adventures on the high seas without leaving the comfort of their bedroom.

The captain's adventures are gently underpinned by moral tales that aren't preachy or pushy, but help children understand their behaviour and perhaps develop a better understanding of others and the world around them. This rhyming range is perfect if your little ones (like mine) are obsessed with all things piratey!



Moving on, we next took a look at Carole's range of books examining the life and culture of other countries. "If you were me and lived in..." picks countries around the world, and takes a look at their language, day to day life, and all the amazing things that give us a fabulous insight into what it would be like to live in Mexico, or South Korea, or France. Charlotte is at an age where she loves discovering more about other countries (and loves travel!) so this range has been a roaring success. We liked the fact that the books share some commonality (for instance, you get to find out what "school" or "Mummy" or "Daddy" is in other languages), but highlight the amazing differences in our lives across the globe, and the things that may seem ordinary and every day to some, but are amazing and fantastic to others.



Lastly we dipped into Carole's fabulous book "I want to do Yoga too!" - Anyone familiar with Barefoot Books' excellent Yoga Pretzels range will love this story of a little girl finding out about Yoga, accompanying her mum to classes, and learning how to stretch and bend, how to adopt the core poses in Yoga. Again this is a book that you could easily see expanding into other activities (dance, sports etc) - and one that might even switch children on to a more healthy and active lifestyle through this engaging story.

You can find out much much more about Carole and her fantastic range of books via her website: http://www.caroleproman.com/