Byford resident Rebecca Laffar-Smith will celebrate the launch of her publishing house’s first book for young adults with the release of Jenna’s Truth on October 10.
Aulexic, the publishing company started by Ms Laffar-Smith specialises in books for children with language and literacy difficulties such as those associated with dyslexia, autism and specific language impairment.
Ms Laffar-Smith said she had no imagined herself as a children’s book publisher but now she was committed to building a strong foundation, quality resources and the kind of books that can change lives.
“So many children who experience difficulties learning to read go on to have poor outcomes through school, which affect emotional resilience, and self esteem,” she said.
“That in turn affects success in later life, which then impacts the next generation.”
Aulexic aims to foster a love of reading in children particularly for those at risk of ongoing illiteracy or poor literacy skills and to break the cycle of illiteracy.
Ms Laffar-Smith said Aulexic grew out of the desperate need for her son to have books that would inspire him to read.
“He experienced incredible difficulties in school and by grade three had come to hate books,” she said.
“When I started home schooling my son I knew I needed to find a way to transform his experience of books and language.”
Inspired by her son’s fascination for penguins Ms Laffar-Smith started a home school project, which was to write a book together as a family.
Titled P.I Penguin, it launched Aulexic, which lead to the publishing of Jenna’s Truth.
Ms Laffar-Smith said Jenna’s Truth took her by surprise as she hadn’t been looking for young adult novels.
“What I found was Jenna’s Truth, a story so deeply compelling that it touched on the raw pain of my own teenage years and told a story so real I could see it being transformative for teenagers,” she said.
“I knew the story needed to reach a wider market in schools and libraries and I knew Aulexic had the foundation to be able to help it gain that reach, and by producing the book by our standards it would be accessible to all young adults.”
Written by Perth based author Nadia King Jenna’s Truth explores themes of cyber bullying, teen drinking and suicide.
The book will be launched October 10.
For more information visit aulexic.com.au/media
