Leeds author teaching children life lessons through literature

Leeds children’s author releases new book to teach kids comradeship and how to accept one another.

Richard Clarke is releasing his third book in his ‘Calm Pond’ series next week. Richard has been a teacher for nearly the last 30 years, and only recently started publishing his own series of books named ‘Calm pond’. Each book of his is 9 short stories compiled into 1 book to keep younger kids engaged while still touching upon themes crucial to a child’s development.

“When I was telling my children stories when they were little, they were always too long. If the first chapter doesn’t grip them, then there’s no real point in continuing. So what I really wanted as a dad, was little, 5-page stories so they could stay engaged for the entire plot and pick up a new one tomorrow”.

His most recent book is titled “More Tales from Calm Pond”. In which the characters are animals he sees around his area. He said a lot of inspiration are taken from his immediate environment as it helps children familiarize the characters and make more sense of what the book is trying to teach them. He tries to build a community with the characters to showcase kindness and pave a way as role models for children to follow and learn from each story.

Source: Richard Clarke

“The overriding thing, as a community we’ve all got to get on with each other, but we’ve also got to be wary that there will be challenges in our lives. Calm pond is supposed to be a safe place where you are accepted, no matter what colour or disability or whatever it might be, you are a part of that community. I’m not saying read my book and it will solve all mental health issues, but what I’m suggesting is that you’ll start to understand it or at least will talk to their parents about it which starts the chain. A problem shared is a problem halved”.

Richard always had an innate ability to create fun and, engaging stories for his children, in and out of school parameters. According to the National Literacy Trust, just 1 in 3 (32.7%) children and young people aged 8 to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time in 2025. This marks a 36% decrease in reading enjoyment levels since they started asking about this in 2005.

Fewer than 1 in 5 (18.7%) 8- to 18-year-olds told us that they read something daily in their free time in 2025, again. This makes entertaining and engaging stories for children so essential in their upbringing.

Source: Tom Hermans

This highlights the drastic decrease of reading among young people. Jack Leadbitter, a teacher for Hillcrest academy on the ‘Calm Pond’ series,

“When I’m working with the younger years, I read them Calm Pond in the evenings as a sort of wind down. I think a lot of them see it as a treat too, as the short stories keep a lot of the kids engaged.”