LOOOOOL! - Proudfoot, Stu

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Résumé :
Nadia's got a new phone and she won't put it down for anyone. Not even Hamid.



Delightfully illustrated in full colour, this subtle treetop romance is a light-hearted look at communication in the digital age, but in a woodland context. Filled with delicious wordplay around mobile phones and social media, this is a highly relatable tale for... well, pretty much anybody, really.



Mobile devices aren't just a distraction for cute little owls, of course. I wrote this story on my own smartphone on my journey into work. I once missed my stop because I was so preoccupied with it. I've also walked into pedestrians, many of whom were similarly absorbed. It's so annoying when people are glued to these tiny screens, not looking where they're going, isn't it? Well, this is the point of my story. Research suggests around half of us are so attached to our phones that we even use them on the toilet. I certainly spend an awful lot of time on my device (my phone, not my toilet). Too much time. It's become an extension of my very being.



On the surface, LOOOOOL! looks like a children's story, and it will appeal to the kids in your life because of Beth's endearing artwork. She is the 18-year-old student who has worked around her studies over the past year, painstakingly humouring such observations as I think I've found an inconsistency in Hamid's toenails or wormy's missing his poop on page 30. While Beth's never done anything quite like this before, I think she has a great future, but you can make up your own mind about that. Either way, Nadia is a grown-up and her story is the perfect gift for those screen addicts in your life, young or old.



Not for the first time (but that's another story), Hand in Hand for Aid and Development will benefit from Nadia's escapades, receiving all profits arising from this venture. To find out more, and for the story behind the story, take a look at www.nadiaandhamid.com.
I am Nadia. You may well be Nadia. If not, you'll almost certainly know a Nadia. My story might be for them.

Biographie:
Stu Proudfoot is a Warwick graduate in Economics who decided against following his peers into the banking, insurance or accountancy fields, instead opting to teach English as a foreign language for many happy and interesting years. During this time, he met his wife Misato and developed a passion for languages which had been absent during his schooldays, going on to gain an MA in Applied Linguistics from Leicester University. Taken hostage by a number of social mediums once his children no longer wanted to play with him, his first foray into publishing is his take on how these now firmly entrenched channels of communication have so dramatically changed the norms of social interaction, as evidenced almost everywhere we care to look.