In the words of English dramatist Alan Bennett, a book is a device to ignite the imagination. All the better when the subjects of a series of books are values that act as guiding lights in the journey of life.
For the past four years, the American School of Doha’s (ASD) fifth grade students and their teachers have created stories to capture and share “the understanding of the ASD Values of Respect, Compassion, Honesty and now Responsibility”. Last week, the fourth and the final book of the ASD Values series, Responsibility, written and illustrated by students and teachers in English and Arabic, was launched in the school.
Responsibility, the latest offering from the commendable initiative inspired by the former director of ASD, Dr Deborah Welch, features a greedy parakeet who goes on an adventure to find Captain Blackbeard’s cache of treasure.
Director of ASD, Dr Thomas Hawkins, told Community, “This week’s launch of the fourth and final Values book, entitled Responsibility, is a great way to promote the values of ASD within our student and parent community. I have never been to, nor seen a school, which has published its own books to reiterate the values espoused at the school. We live the mission and the school values — Compassion, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility — at ASD, and these books help students understand and live these values daily. Thanks go to the children and teachers who created the books, and to ExxonMobil who sponsored the publishing of the books. AlFaisal Without Borders is the beneficiary of the proceeds of the book.”
By ensuring that the proceeds for the book are handed to AlFaisal Without Borders (ALF) Foundation, a leading local humanitarian organisation founded by Sheikh Faisal with the mission statement of “health, wealth, and relief for all”, ASD’s activity enables children worldwide to attend school, which, too, is an act of “responsibility” carried out well by both the school and ALF.
Art teacher Samantha McGuinness explained to Community that ASD’s latest values book, Responsibility, encapsulates what it is to learn through others. “The main character, the Pirate King, has to learn how to interact with others, how to take care of himself and how to show respect towards nature. The illustrations grow as does the character throughout the book, which was the illustrators’ intention. Responsibility teaches kids the value of self-reflection and self-growth in a fun way.”
At the event, the high school music crew of “Seussical” started off by giving a promotional performance of a song from the musical. Dr Hawkins began the book launch event by congratulating the student story writers, illustrators, editors, faculty members and the sponsors that made the publication of the book possible. Dr Hawkins identified the principles of the publication of the book as four Cs: “collaboration, community spirit, creativity, and co-operation”. The publication of the book was a collaborative effort among student text producers and faculty supervisors.
Joshua Oh is a sixth grade student who served as an editor for the English portion of the book. He described the publication process as one that “satisfied everyone (that) combined everyone’s idea”. He said that the biggest challenge in the publication of the book was “organising the sequence and switching around the order of the book”.
One of the student story writers, Ash from sixth grade described the process of publication as “being a one group of writers … talking out the problems and sorting them out together.” He said that the best part about being part of the book-making process was being part of the group. “I’ve never talked to them before, but now they are like my best friends.”
Mia Fretcher, one of student illustrators of the book identified the inability to fix the mistakes in illustrations as the primary challenge in the book-making process. In dealing with mistakes in illustrations, the student illustrators “covered up the spots with white papers or started over from scratch.”
Dr Hawkins directed all the accomplishments and credit to the founder of the book series, Dr Welch, who started the publication of the ASD Values books four years ago. “The kids are the centre of the attention in this process,” he said. Identifying the challenge as promoting the sales of the books, Dr Hawkins said, “It is difficult to get through that people need to make this a part of the legacy of ASD no matter who they are and how many years they have been here.”
So far, more than 150 bundles of the books were sold in the pre-sale. That said, board members of ALF pointed out that “it is not about the money, but about making an effort to do something to give back to people.” The members are appreciative not for the amount of money that the book sales have generated, but rather, the effort that the students put in.