Couple creates children’s adventure book

By Anesta Henry

A husband and wife have joined their creative talents to produce an educational and entertaining storybook designed to make reading fun for children.

Stacey and Gabriel Welch through their Gabcey Productions company, have published Lily & Luca’s Adventure at The Cave, a book which illustrates exciting aspects of the Cave, and also contains interactive activities for children ages four to 10-years-old.

During an interview with Barbados TODAY where the couple spoke about the book which is the first in a series created to educate children on the many sites and attractions in Barbados and across the Caribbean, Stacey said the main objective of the book is to give children the experience of touring a cave considering that many of them are yet to visit such a natural wonder.

“We want children to be educated about Barbados and about Barbados’ culture and the history of Barbados, the heritage of Barbados, to know that this place is very beautiful and that there are a lot of attractive sites that they can enjoy.

“So it is basically to stimulate their minds. It is filled with activities so they can work on crosswords, and work on a question and answer quiz at the end. So for them to be able to do the activities they must actually read the book. It can also be a family book as well so parents can sit and go through with their children,” Stacey said.

Stacey, who was responsible for the text in the book which was printed overseas, said while the concept for the book came to her and her husband back in 2018, they made the decision to actually start putting it together in June 2020, and finished the process of compiling the content in October that same year.

Gabriel, a visual artist, said the only challenge he had in creating the illustrations was ensuring that the drawings would appeal to children. He said at times it meant redrawing to ensure that the illustrations met the criteria.

“I stopped drawing a few years back and then my wife told me ‘well Gabriel what about the idea that we had, are you going to do something about it?’ And I was like well give me the ideas and I will draw them.

And she wouldn’t give up. So that motivated me and eventually I started to stay up late at night and draw and I started back to find a new love for drawing, just like when I was a kid.

“The challenge that I had was that I had to make sure that the drawings were children’s drawings. And I have the tendency that when I start drawing I must finish the drawing so then it would end up looking like a painting and I had to tone that down a bit. Then sometimes I had some concepts, but I had to redraw them and redraw them to get them to make sure that they fit the goal that I had,” Gabriel shared.

Gabriel said he hoped the book encouraged children to continue reading.
Meanwhile, the couple extended gratitude to God for the ability to create and complete the book, Margo Clarke and Sonja Welch for taking the time to proofread the book, their pastors Noel and Annette Jordan for their continual prayers and support, in addition to all other persons who support local talent, which will enable them to continue creating educational and enjoyable children’s literature.

“And we also want to thank Barbadians who support art and will buy the book in advance,” Stacey said. The book can be found in all locations of Cloister Bookstore, Days Bookstore, The Art Hub, the University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus Bookshop, and Novelties Bistro at Coconut Walk.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb