Learning phonics becomes fun in new storybook: Gloria Eveleigh has recently released another instalment in her series of storybooks that teach children about the phonics process. ‘Sammy and Susie Visit the Seaside’ (published by Xlibris UK) uses a fun narrative and a cast of delightful characters to introduce readers to the ‘s’ sound and the words that begin with this letter.

Eveleigh originally wrote her phonics-focused series of short stories for her sister to use with small children and their parents who attended her phonics classes. Like the rest of the books in the unique series, ‘Sammy and Susie Visit the Seaside’ uses an engaging story and pictures that small children can immediately identify with, while the narrative highlights the first phonics sound that children learn.

Readers will meet the title characters, Sammy and Susie, who love to visit Auntie Sarah and Uncle Steven at the seaside. While there, they discover many interesting things and do many fun activities.

“The book is timeless because parents can read it to the children when they are very young or read it with them while teaching them the ‘s’ sound as their children gain an interest in learning,” Eveleigh says. “And then children can read it alone to consolidate and practise what they are taught at school, so it is like a teaching aid for school.”

‘Sammy and Susie Visit the Seaside’ is for parents and teachers who want to make learning phonics fun and imaginative. It is an engaging and stimulating way of using the sounds of single and combined letters of the alphabet to enable effective literacy teaching and learning.

About the author: Gloria Eveleigh is now retired after a career as a scientist, social worker and manager. She has three grown-up children and five grandchildren. She loved to make up stories for her own children when they were young and now she tells them to her youngest grandchild. Eveleigh enjoys reading, art and crafts.