Last month’s Book Week celebrations at Victoria Park Christian School in Perth included the launch of a new book by teacher and author Simone Field, continuing a series of stories that explore the challenges primary school children face and the ways faith and friendship can help.
Emily and the Perfect Problem is the third book in Mrs Field’s series, following Isabel and the Lunch Box Bully and Sasha and the Scary Spotlight. Each story follows a different girl from the friendship group introduced in the first book, with Emily bringing her own personality, strengths and challenges to the series.
“Emily is a girl who likes things done a certain way,” says Mrs Field. “She leans towards perfectionism, and while this helps her strive for excellence at school, it also makes it difficult for her to show grace when things don’t go according to plan.”
The challenge comes when the class is set a creative writing project and Emily is paired with a classmate who is learning English as an additional language. “Emily needs to learn how to do her best while being understanding and compassionate towards others and towards herself,” she says.
Now working as school librarian and language teacher at Victoria Park school, Mrs Field says the theme of Emily and the Perfect Problem reflects her experience teaching literacy in Western Australian schools, including working with students learning English as an additional language. Her own experience of living in Peru and learning basic Spanish also helped her understand what it is like to navigate a new language and culture.
“I’ve seen firsthand how challenging the journey of learning a new language can be, and I’ve also witnessed the beautiful ways native-English-speaking children support and encourage their peers.”
The series is now also reaching beyond English-speaking readers. Isabel and the Lunch Box Bully, the first book in the series, has now been published in a Spanish edition by Editorial ACES in Argentina as Isabel Y El Robameriendas. “It is exciting to see this series continue to grow in volumes and reach,” said Nathan Brown, book editor at Signs Publishing. “These are good stories that offer valuable resources for children, families and classrooms.”
While each book in the series addresses a different challenge, Mrs Field says they share a common purpose. “I hope these books remind children that everyone’s life experience is different and that compassion is essential. Whatever someone is struggling with, kindness and understanding can make an enormous difference.”
Emily and the Perfect Problem and the earlier books in the series are now available from Adventist bookshops in Australia and New Zealand, or online.
