A CHILDREN?s author from America was in West Devon this week, talking to primary school children and reading some of his ?Itty Bitty? series of books.
Wayne Dyer from Missouri wrote his initial Itty Bitty book for his first grandchild ? he has now completed a 27-book set of the volumes, which are based around animals.
Mr Dyer visited Northlew, Exbourne, North Tawton, Spreyton and Hatherleigh schools while he was in Devon.
Ruth Branham, who promotes the series in the US, said: ?All the books are concerned with animals, they are in rhyme and there?s a moral to each story.
?The teachers love them because they?re laminated and easy to keep clean and the children love the stories.?
The books are aimed at the youngest school-aged children and are used for listening and reading development, with each book featuring a letter of the alphabet and an animal corresponding to that letter.
For example, the A book is about an ape and deals with helping others during a dangerous situation. The J book is about a jay and is a story about being bossy, the W is about a wolf and is about helping older people and the L book is about a lion and deals with bullying.
In the US, companies and businesses sponsor the books for schools in their area.
?They can sponsor as many books as they like, although they often buy the whole set,? said Ruth, who paid tribute to staff at Naturally Claire?s in Okehampton, who arranged the school visits.
A spokesman for Hatherleigh School said the children really enjoyed Mr Dyer?s visit.
?It was wonderful, he was very good with them and it was very nice to have him here to explain all about the writing process,? she said.
Any company in the Okehampton area interested in sponsoring any of the Itty Bitty book series for a local school can e-mail Wayne Dyer at [email protected]">[email protected]
Ruth Branham is in the country until early next week and has three sets of books left, which retail at £140 per set. She can be contacted on 01837 840297.