Learning life skills and values through music
'the books aim to communicate a theme of positive coexistence through a strong sense of values and beliefs.'
After the success of the audiobook Adventures at Humminghive – Here We Are, Beverley Omsky has released the second book in her children’s series, Adventures at Humminghive, a hardback which tells the story of Oliver and Teena Petunia along with Petal, Peter and the Hollyhocks who all live at Humminghive.
Aimed at children in early learning centres and the early primary school years, the books aim to communicate a theme of positive coexistence through a strong sense of values and beliefs.
Omsky, who spent years working as a music teacher and early childhood music specialist, told The AJN that while the audiobook and hardcover have only recently been released, she started writing the story in the 1990s.
“I was thinking of an integrated concept that I found lacking in general in society. There just didn’t seem to be the resources available to myself as an educator to teach children the guiding values of life skills using music as a tool,” she said.
It was during COVID-19 lockdowns when Omsky finally found the time to put all of her work properly into play. After initially dismissing a shortness of breath, she found herself in a COVID-ridden hospital with a diagnosis of stage 4 ovarian cancer. Since then, she has managed to write and release the books in her series and has more books planned.
The musical audiobook was released in October 2020, and now four years later comes the first in a series that looks at the values of equality, diversity, cooperation and mutual respect. Omsky explains that it’s all to “support creating better citizens through childhood learning”.
“One of the reasons I released an audio book before the hardback is because children are encouraged to listen to the flow and repetition of language which helps with the acquisition of language,” she said.
“They are also able to imagine before they may be able to use their own words of self-expression. The books encourage language acquisition.”
Omsky said that one of the biggest goals with the audiobook and series is to cater to children who learn differently.
“Some children learn better by listening or we call that auditory learning and others learn better visually. This is why an audiobook is so wonderful for children because it incorporates these different ways of learning,” she said.
Ultimately, through Humminghive, Omsky hopes to instil a sense of empathy into the children, and even the adults, reading or listening along.
“I think the world would be a much nicer place if people just had more empathy and were able to listen and absorb somebody else’s opinions and differences without negativity. I would also hope that carers, grandparents, parents and educators are then also able to use this as a blueprint for life in their own homes.”
Omsky hopes also that readers take away the important metaphor embedded in the story – while we are each “just a person”, we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves.
A proud champion of raising awareness of cancer in children, a portion of the book sales will be donated to the Children’s Cancer Institute.
For more information and to purchase the book, visit adventuresathumminghive.com/adventures-at-humminghive-book
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