The “real” Emma with the book cover.
PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten author Loekie Morales has been a familiar guest at children’s book weeks in Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean for years. This year, she will be visiting nine schools and several book signings and after-school social events during Siman Ban Lesa (SBL) in Curaçao from October 31 until November 4.
SBL is the largest annual literature event for children in Curaçao. Local authors and writers from abroad will be visiting schools to act, read and tell stories to children.
Morales’ recently published newest book Emma La’s Golden Heart is also available in Dutch, Spanish and Papiamentu. This book for the age group 5-7 is about the very sympathetic five-year-old girl Emma La, who comes from a hardworking middle-class migrant family in a rich country. She has everything her heart longs for, but she always thinks about her family in need in her mother’s homeland. She helps her mother to ease the lives of her family overseas.
“This is a story about caring and sharing. I captured it from real life when I visited Orlando, Florida, two years ago,” Morales said. “The story of Emma La fits in the Global Goals 1 and 2 of the United Nations.
“Combating extreme poverty and zero hunger is the first important set of global goals for nearly every country around the world to be implemented. A huge task for governments, but also for non-government organisations (NGOs), the private sector, academia, and other groups. Countries need to take it to a next level to work together in the region and internationally to achieve those goals. Emma La is a real-life story, easy to read for the target group.”
“Thanks to WINAIR, which has given a reduction on the flight ticket price, and the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund Caribbean, which gave financial support for publishing the Emma La books, this all has been made possible,” said Beyond Kultura Events Foundation’s treasurer.
