The writer and teacher from Dianense Neus Sendra debuts in children's literature with The Easter Bunny's Great Journey, an illustrated story in English that combines the magic of Easter Bunny with an educational tour through different countries around the world. The play will be presented this April in Dénia, coinciding with the celebrations of the Day of the book and Easter.
Published self-published, the story is intended for a children's audience between 3 and 8 years —although, as the author assures, it is also capturing the attention of somewhat older readers—. The story follows the Easter Bunny on his journey through emblematic cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Sydney, Honolulu o New York, where he hides chocolate eggs in recognizable places that allow little ones to learn geography y crop in a playful way
"I wanted children to be able to travel with their imaginations, learning about other countries and places through a fun, visual story.""At each stop, the protagonist leaves clues and eggs that invite readers to follow his trail, thus reinforcing the interactive component of the work. At the end, the story offers a small activity to help the rabbit return to his forest.
Inspiration from the classroom and beyond
The author also holds a PhD in education and teaches English at the preschool and primary levels at the Alfa & Omega school in Dénia, where she arrived after a long career at La Salle de Paterna. She combines this with her position as a professor and director of master's degree projects at UNIR and UAX universities. She asserts that her teaching experience has been key in shaping this work: "I've been in education for almost 20 years, and I know what materials are hard to find in this type of book," she adds, adding that "there's often a lack of stories designed from the classroom perspective, from the reality of diversity and inclusion.". His doctoral research, focused on the creativity and imagination, has also influenced the approach to the story.
"The goal was to make it accessible, motivating, and tailored to their English level. Often, English stories are designed for native speakers, which makes them difficult to use in the classroom.", he adds. That's why he designed The Easter Bunny's Great Journey thinking about the real contexts of language learning, with simple phrases, visual vocabulary and a fast pace.
In addition, Sendra has drawn on her own experiences as a traveler—she studied in England and her work has taken her to spend time in Australia and the United States—to enrich the story with personal experiences.
A self-published adventure, written and illustrated by herself
The author has also taken care of the Artwork from the book, created with graphic design tools. "Although some things can always be improved, I'm very proud of the result."He says.
The project, which began as a personal idea to share with his children and students, has generated growing interest among them. "Seeing the excitement of my children, my students, and other children who want me to sign their books has been very moving. They're seeing that they too can create.".
Presentations in Dénia and distribution
The story will be presented to the public at two events scheduled this month:
- Wednesday, April 17, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., at the MR Hotel Les Rotes, with storytelling and an Easter egg hunt.
- Friday, April 25, at 17:00 p.m., at the Dénia Library, within the framework of the activities for Book Day.
The book can be purchased at both presentations and is also available at the bookstore. Públics from Dénia and on Amazon.
