Launch comes ahead of World Book Day and schools roadshow to bring the book directly to pupils.
Gloucestershire-based author, Belinda Jane Robinson, launches new book, Me and My Diamond, aimed at helping to boost children’s wellbeing and self-esteem, with the author donating books to local schools, including Temple Guiting School, Rodmarton School and Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School.
The launch comes ahead of World Book Day on 6th March and follows the County Council’s latest Pupil Wellbeing Survey which reveals a continued decline in mental wellbeing among school-age children.
Over the four years surveyed, the average mental wellbeing score, which measures various aspects of pupils’ mental health on a scale 14 to 70 – declined from 51.6 to 48.7 in Gloucestershire.
Having previously written Seven Jewels of Life, an adult’s guide towards inner confidence and empowerment, Me and My Diamond is Belinda’s first children’s book. A self-release, the book is a fantastical tale of two children, Molly and Joe, who, upon finding a map of ‘The Diamond Field’ in a suitcase belonging to their grandmother, undergo a vast journey around the world, guided by their grandmother, a Lightkeeper and the family cat Charlie.
The trip sees them visit Africa on Monday, Australia and Oceania on Tuesday, the Middle East and Eurasia on Wednesday, Asia on Thursday, North America on Friday, South America on Saturday and Europe on Sunday. At each of these destinations and at the end of each day, the children discover different jewels of wisdom, each of which teaches them, and readers, a valuable life lesson.
The purpose of the book is to help children aged 5 to 9 uncover the concept of inner wisdom, represented by the ‘diamond in your heart’. The diamond reflects the colours of seven rainbow jewels, each holding a secret, that when discovered, will light up a child’s inner brilliance, helping to boost their confidence and self-esteem.
Following the release of the book, Belinda, aged 71, is now working on an educational guide for schools to work alongside Me and My Diamond, to encourage self-love and learning in Gloucestershire’s young people. The author is also planning a school ‘roadshow’ later this year, as well as creating a Me and My Diamond ‘workbook’ to deliver learnings from the tale directly to pupils across the county.
Belinda Jane Robinson, author of Me and My Diamond, said: “Before writing this book I had experienced some personal traumas and was feeling both sad and disempowered. However, upon the invitation of my friend I spent almost two years living in the Southwest of England and was massively inspired by the Cornish landscape. These landscapes, such as the Lizard Peninsula, create the backdrop for all the destinations in the book. Sitting in a coffee shop in Cornwall, I was able to imagine the entire fictional world unfolding around, above, and before me – becoming vast oceans and continents teeming with life and learning.
“In those two years, I discovered my own inner diamond, and by the time I’d finished writing ‘Me and My Diamond,’ I had a much deeper understanding of life and its challenges, just as Joe and Molly did in the book. This is the purpose of the story, to help children discover their inner wisdom and love.
Keeping the book’s roots in the South West, Belinda also employed the help of Cornwall-based illustrator and artist Jenny Everett, who created 96 illustrations for the 110-page book.
Belinda was born and brought up in the Far East and spent many years of her life living between the East and the West.
She originally worked as a fashion model before training as an SRN nurse at the Middlesex Hospital, London in the 1970s. She then ran a successful line of ‘Belinda Jane’ fashion boutiques in London and Norwich in the 1980s, with her designs being stocked in luxury department stores including Liberty’s and Harrods in London and Bergdorf Goodman in New York.
In 2015 she wrote her first book The Seven Jewels of Life, an inspiring story encouraging girls and women to take time for themselves and join her on the journey towards greater personal fulfilment.
Inspiration
Belinda added: “I wrote this book for my grandchildren, but also all the other children and parents who appreciate a good story, and want to learn. Jenny Everett’s original illustrations are magnificent, and I’d like to thank her and everyone else who has helped bring ‘Me and My Diamond’ to life.”
