Nadeera Jayawardane has been working with, in her words, “tiny humans” since 2010. She has been an educator for just upon 12 years and has loved every bit of it.
She authored her first children’s book ‘Mummy Bear’s Café’ and this promises to be the first of a series of books planned. Her inspiration for writing came from her profession and being first published in early 2022, she says she is proud to have been able to see it through.
“It was a change, certainly, as I did not know the first thing about publishing!” says Nadeera.
“In 2020, during the lockdowns of Covid 19, stuck at home, my dream started to blossom again. I really wanted to write a book based on a small family, and when I was thinking about the story and the characters, three bears popped into my mind; two baby bears with a mother.” One thought led to another and she finally penned the outline for Mummy bear who ran a café, and had two little bear cubs – helpful as you could possibly imagine – wanting to bake a very special cake for their mum.
Best cake
Nadeera’s story is not just about kindness and helpfulness, but also approaches the use of language, maths and thinking skills as the two cubs, Bessie and Benny, attempt to make the best cake the café has ever seen.
Nadeera also wants parents and guardians to know of the importance of involving your children in the tasks you do at home. It helps them to realise that they are brave and capable of doing things at their age.
Says Nadeera, “After publishing my first book, compliments started to flow. Most of the kids fell in love with my story and I got to know that wherever they went, they would carry the ‘Mummy Bear’s Café”’ book with them as well, and even to be read as bedtime stories. Now this is the best compliment that an author can get; to be read and enjoyed and appreciated, especially as this was my first experience as an author.
Nadeera was born and raised in Kandy, studied at Mahamaya Girls College and has worked in Sri Lanka’s leading international schools. She moved to the Netherlands where she works as a pedagogical coach and is pleased that her book is enjoying much success there as well.
Nadeera wishes to continue writing more books that make her “tiny humans” happy, and to concentrate on themes of nature, love, and family. “Bringing a smile to these tiny humans makes my day happy. And as an educator, I always have the desire to make a change, so this has been a big turning point in my professional life… Stealing a kid’shearts by writing books, will always be one of my biggest achievements.
Rabbit family
Her next book, due to be released early next year is entitled ‘My Mummy is the Best’ and centres on a rabbit family and of course, is all about why mothers are the best!
“What moved me to write this story was my own mother, who I saw – and still see – how much she loves and cares and sacrifices for her children,” says Nadeera with much emotion. “This next book is dedicated to her and to all the mothers out there.”
We can certainly look forward to much more from this young author who aims at changing the world and stealing hearts with the heartfelt and wholesome stories she writes.