Kettering teacher's lockdown lessons inspire debut children's book

A Kettering teacher made sure her work didn't go to waste when low numbers attended her lockdown lessons - by using it for her debut children's book.

Shevonne Blair has released illustrated Biblical book The True Path to Freedom and is already working on a second title.

But the mum-of-three, who is originally from Guyana, admits her child-friendly take on the gospels only happened after a disappointing turnout for her Sunday lockdown Bible classes.

Shevonne, who has lived in Kettering for just over six years, said: “The idea for writing children’s Biblical stories came to me during the lockdown in June last year.

“I had a few Sunday school sessions online with children from my local church but the turnout was poor.

“Time is the only resource in life that one can never replace.

“Since I did not want the time that I had taken from my hectic schedule to prepare my lessons to go in vain, I decided to use the scriptures that I had studied for those lessons and transform them into children’s storybooks.”

The True Path to Freedom tells the story of privileged brothers who treat the family’s hired help with disdain.

Shevonne’s illustrated book highlights how the spoilt siblings change their ways after encountering a wise wanderer. Although Biblically inspired, Shevonne said The True Path to Freedom is uplifting and thought-provoking for children of any faith and none.

The 36-year-old author added: “The aim of The True Path to Freedom is to foster the spirit of kindness within children and to enable them to become winners in life.

“The message that I want to convey in this book is that there is a way to be free from anything that seemingly wants to control you.

“The True Path to Freedom is not about just physical freedom but spiritual and mental freedom.”

Shevonne, who is a qualified primary school teacher, now works from home as an academic researcher and editor.

As well as writing her debut children’s book during lockdown, she also spent all of last August walking for about four hours each day to hit a target of walking one million steps in a month. She took on the challenge to raise funds for the Northamptonshire Community Foundation in aid of those within the community who suffered from Covid-19.

The enthusiastic reaction she has received for The True Path to Freedom, as well five-star reviews, has encouraged her to plan a further three children’s books.

Shevonne is now working on the second title in her planned DJJ Little Winners in Life series, called Leap of Faith: Walking on Water.

She also has three other titles in the pipeline, called Waste Not: Feeding the Multitude, Difficult times: Kindness, Thoughtfulness and Passion and Leap of Faith: Issues in Life.

Shevonne's book can be found online here.