The Helping Hands Stories by Sarah, The Duchess of York #Review

Today we are looking at three stories which have been published as the Helping Hands Series. Written by Sarah Duchess of York, they have an important social message beneath the story.

Daisy learns about Strangers show what happens when Daisy loses her Mum in the supermarket.  The experience teaches her a valuable lesson.

 

James and the Bullies tells the story of a little boy who is being bullied at school but plucks up the courage to talk to his Mum.

Holly’s First Day at School tells the story of a worried little girl facing school for the first time. She soon forgets her worries as she meets new friends.

These three short stories are ideal for sharing with a child and give plenty of opportunity to talk through any issues or problems. They are also handy to look at aspects of a child's day and friendships. With bold, clear text and colourful illustrations, they have a positive outcome and at the end, there are Ten Helpful Hints for parents to bear in mind.

  

Cat and Mouse say: Offer a Helping Hand and Be KInd!

  

About the Author

  

The Duchess of York is a global humanitarian,

businesswoman, best selling children’s book author, producer and wellness advocate.

The Duchess is widely admired for her "comeback spirit" and for overcoming formidable obstacles to succeed as a good mother who has worked hard to support her children, a survivor, businesswoman and humanitarian.

In 1993 she founded Children in Crisis (www.childrenincrisis.org.uk) and the charity has educated over 1.4 million children, trained over 18,000 teachers, built 57 schools and supports hundreds of schools on a yearly basis.  Recently CIC merged with Street Child and The Duchess is Founder Patron,  remaining active in its mission to provide education to forgotten children around the world. She has recently returned from visiting Street Child’s projects in Nepal and Sierra Leone, supporting the most marginalised into education and out of bonded labour.

The Duchess has published over 52 books including two autobiographies and titles dealing with health, empowerment, history, art, as well as children's stories.  Her children’s books include the series of ‘Budgie the Little Helicopter’,  adapted into a highly successful animated series on US primetime Fox and her children’s book ‘Tea for Ruby’, published by Simon and Schuster had it’s debut at the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

The subject of countless media interviews herself, The Duchess has also found success as a reporter and presenter. In America, she has been a special correspondent for NBC's Today show and has presented specials and documentaries on ABC, FOX, and CNN. In Britain, she has presented and coproduced specials for ITV, BBC, and Sky TV. She has served as guest editor on BBC Radio 4 Today programme and has regularly contributed to BBC Radio 2’s primetime lifestyle show “Steve Wright”. 

She conceived the film, and produced alongside Martin Scorsese, ‘The Young Victoria’, a period romance based on the early life of Queen Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend and scripted by Julian Fellowes.  She has written two books on the subject, ‘Travels with Queen Victoria’ and ‘Victoria and Albert: Family Life at Osborne House’. The Young Victoria was released in the US, UK, Australia, France amongst other territories and it was the closing film at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2009. 

She devotes much of her time to promoting wellness and children's causes. The ‘Helping Hand’ series of books is designed to introduce children to the issues they all confront as they grow old, through storytelling and to support their parents with advice provided by a leading child psychologist.  For 10 years she was the highly successful US spokesperson for Weight Watchers International  where she distinguished herself as a wellness advocate and a spokesperson for the American Heart Association. She has recently been asked  to lead a campaign highlighting women and heart disease by The British Heart Foundation.

 She is a passionate supporter of a number of charities including  The Teenage Cancer Trust and Teen Cancer America, Julia’s House, The British Heart Foundation and The Children’s Air Ambulance.  She also champions Key to Freedom, a business structure initiative set up to support the Women’s Interlink Foundation (WIF) by giving vulnerable young women a platform to sell their products. WIF works across West Bengal, India, helping these women develop skills to earn an income.  She has just returned from a visit to The Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation Hospital (BASR) where, as Patron, she is spearheading a campaign to establish a cardiology department to include a heart attack centre and rehabilitation.  

 

Book links:Amazon UK

  

Don't forget to visit The HelpingHands website where you can read an interview with Sarah Duchess of York here.

Thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for copies of the books and a place on the tour,

  

Check out the rest of the tour!