New children's book is written through eyes of my son as he explores Cork

TRAVEL with your kids to the Rebel County’s most iconic landmarks in Noah’s Cork Adventures, a new children’s book written by Cork mum Nadine Hughes Campbell.

Nadine, who is originally from Canada, moved to Leeside six years ago. She had received a one-year job contract in Dublin, but after falling in love with a Corkman, two children and a dog later, she is now proud to call Cork home.

Noah’s Cork Adventures is written through the eyes of her son, Noah, as he explores the real capital. On his adventures, he wanders around some of Cork’s most loved locations. He holds on for dear life at the Shakey Bridge, samples the famous English Market, and soaks in Cobh’s sea air.

Noah and travel are two of Nadine’s ions in life, and she was delighted to be able to bring them together in her first piece of published work.

“The process was long and to say there was a slight learning curve is an understatement,” she itted.

While writing the book, Nadine gave birth to her daughter so had to put it on hold for a while.

The entire process took just under two years, and I was naïve to think that you just wrote a story and printed it.

“So much went into it and a lot of mistakes were made and overcome, but the amount of knowledge I gained is invaluable to me now.”

She hired an editor who works on children’s books to help her navigate re-works and many iterations.

“Aside from creating the book, I had to wear a variety of hats, including sales, marketing, istration, bookkeeping, and more, but I’m enjoying it all!” she said.

One of the story’s cutest features is that it is a rhyming book, and this wasn’t accidental, author Nadine revealed.

“I love rhyme books, rhyme books are amazing for little ones. The sing song of a rhyme book is great in aiding with memory and cognitive development, literacy development, and it drives speech and language.

“I knew when I started this book, I wanted to have it rhyme. 

The rhyming was challenging, but so rewarding once I got my head around it and the meter of my story, and it was so touching that night that my son recited a few pages of the book back to me because of the rhyme.

The book is beautifully illustrated by Polina, a Ukrainian artist Nadine found on a peer-to-peer writer and illustrator website.

“I spent a long time looking for the perfect illustrator, and when I discovered her work, I knew she was the one! It was wonderful to have someone with zero knowledge of the city, to have a completely blank canvas. To be able to describe places and things with such detail to her was so nice as I felt like I was experiencing Cork from new eyes all over again, and to watch it come to life on the pages was beautiful”

Noah’s Cork Adventure is the first in a series and Nadine is already looking forward to the story’s next instalment. Readers will be able to travel with Noah as he ventures around Ireland and abroad.

“We’re off to the vibrant city of Berlin next!” Nadine revealed.

Travel possesses many benefits to children, it creates play and travel based learning, boosts creativity and imagination, it instils adaptability and fosters problem-solving.

Nadine mentioned a study commissioned by the U.S Travel Association, which showed that adults who travelled regularly as children had above average grades, higher educational achievements, and higher than average income by 12%.

Travel doesn’t have to be extravagant, and this Nadine highlights in Noah’s Cork Adventure.

She understands that travelling comes with a cost and not all parents have the ability or means to travel with their children.

“I experienced this first hand as my parents didn’t have the means during my childhood, but I’m so grateful for their sacrifices in order to allow me to be in a position to do this for my son.

So, to those children who can’t get on a flight just yet, I want them to come along for the journey and travel the world and go from county to county in the series of Noah’s Adventures.

“The hope is that one day, they’ll be able to visit these places in real life and create an adventure of their own.”

Copies of Noah’s Cork Adventure can be picked up in Vibes & Scribes, Nano Nagle Place, Some Dose, Quay Co-op Key Books, Lowercase bookshop at UCC, Carrigaline Bookshop and on Amazon and from noahsadventures.ie