Laois schoolkids write Christmas story book to help Make A Wish Foundation
A very cute little book of short stories is for sale this Christmas, all written by Laois children.
What began as a class exercise in short story writing turned into a mini company, with the book selling out on launch day in the village shop.
The book is packed with festive imaginative stories including ones about Santa's workshop and great Christmas adventures in a magical sleigh,
A note inside the book explains all.
"The intention of the book was to encourage us to learn about business and to create our own mini company. We have learned about investment, profit, orders, keeping accounts, marketing and sales.
"Originally, we had been learning about narrative writing and worked together with our partners to create our very own Christmas stories, which we had planned to share with the Junior and Senior Infants of our school.
"It was then suggested by our teacher to get involved in creating our own classroom company. Having thought of many ideas of what we should do, we finally thought about selling our very own stories. It was at the point that the idea evolved and here we present to you, our very own collection of short stories."
Their teacher Annabel Laffan is very proud of them.
"We had the book printed by an official printing press and the children were very excited when the book arrived. They are covering the costs themselves by the sales they make and they have decided to give some of the profits to the ‘Make a Wish’ children’s charity.
"This booklet of Christmas stories is a fantastic read for all the family. I am so proud of the children for their enthusiasm and dedication throughout this journey. They have learned about how business works and they can now be proud of themselves that their very own narrative stories are forever displayed in a beautiful book," she said.
The children will this week read their stories for the whole school through Zoom ahead of the Christmas holidays.
The book is on sale for €5 and there are also bookmarks, which display the children's artwork, priced at €1, with 25% of all proceeds being donated to the 'Make a Wish' children's foundation.