Cones Books
Chris Madeley writes children’s stories using traffic Cones which come to life; traffic cones are common objects, easy for even small children to draw and seen universally.
During her visits to schools and nurseries, Chris became increasingly concerned that some children may not have access to books outside these establishments. At the same time, Chris became aware that Corporate Britain was required to engage with areas in which they work to add social value – to “give back” to communities. It became apparent that these two elements could come together so research was undertaken, enquiries were made, and the result is an ongoing series of children’s stories which the commissioning company gives out to children. The strap line for this project is Helping Corporate Britain Educate Children.
The beautifully illustrated books are designed for children to have fun while at the same time learning moral, ethical, ecological, diversity, inclusivity, social conscience issues etc to help them grow into life around them. This strategy gives children the lessons in the context of various industries whilst enjoying fun with the different Cone characters, their Guardians and other Cones they meet.
Wherever possible, each industry has its own Cone which helps the four young Cone friends learn about the industry, its opportunities for employment and how they do things. In industries which have been traditionally male-dominated, females are encouraged by being the engineer etc in the story. Wherever possible the Cone helping the four friends learn has a “Cone” name relevant to their industry. Sometimes the name is re-used as are human names, but the name always reflects the subject matter, for example Conestructor, Coneservator.
Industries covered so far are Construction Sites (Now featured on Considerate Constructors Website) / Respect for road maintenance and construction teams / Safety on the Railways (Won the 2017 UKRIA Award for Passenger Safety) / Flood Alleviation, water safety and fun on and around the waterways / Social awareness via the Priority Services Register / Cones Power and Nature, - the clean generation of electricity and a Nature reserve made from the spoils of coal-burning power generation / Cleaner air in cities and park and rides / helping children to go into hospital, what happens and who they will see / safety in car parks / alternative generation of electricity via clean generators.
Some other industries Chris is looking to partner with are: Recycling, Logistics, Railway building and electrification, Financial knowledge, Waste Management, Waste Management to Power. If you are interested in learning more, please contact chris@theconesbooks.co.uk
Translations :
Cones Make New Friends - Portuguese, French
Cones on the Rails -Mandarin, Japanese, Italian, Polish, German
Colouring fun with The Cones
The production team of the Cones series of Children’s books has just launched a free download and world-wide competition for children to help while away the time during this period of isolation. Characters are on the website so children can colour in their favourite Cones and their Guardians. They can then, with the help of their parents, submit their artwork electronically and, at the end of May, judges will decide on 10 winners who will each receive two Cones books as their prize. The competition is open to children up to and including age 8 and they can submit as many entries as they like. Come on, get downloading and colouring!
All instructions are on the link below:
www.theconesbooks.co.uk/colouring-fun-with-the-cones/
Good luck and keep yourselves safe.
Chris Madeley
Author of the Cones series of Children’s Books