In today’s divisional climate, there comes a children’s book that promotes unity by giving a universal answer to the burning question ‘Where am I from?’. The book will be illustrated in full with graffiti and is aimed for children aged 3-8.
Through stunning graffiti painted in the streets of Athens by the well known artist Platon, ‘Where am I from?’ will take our young ones on a quest in search of common origins. The story portrays children with different racial backgrounds, living in countries from all six inhabited continents. Peter is also present, a young boy from Malta. The children gather together and try to find a universal answer to the subject question, an answer which isn’t true just for them but true for everyone.
“A book that talks about such issues in an interesting way matters and deserves a place in evey child’s library. The first years in a child’s life are the most impressionable ones thus rendering a book of this nature very important for their development.” Elisavet Arkolaki says when asked why she came up with this story and book concept. “Through a fun story which involves lots of travelling, the children will get to experience the colours of the world while looking at stunning graffiti on the book’s pages. ‘Where am I from?’ celebrates the beauty of diversity while concluding that we are all inherently the same. Should we wish to raise a future generation that see themselves as citizens of the world, diverse and multicultural books are mandatory.”
The book will be published by the well established publishing house Faraxa Publishing which has several award-winning books under its belt. Faraxa’s books have achieved awards, nominations and honorable mentions in the New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Paris and London book festivals. Faraxa is founded and directed by Joanne Micallef, a female entrepreneur, who runs her own business while juggling the struggles of parenting her very own multicultural children.
The community is also playing a massive role in this project as wthout their support this project cannot come to life. Elisavet Arkolaki is organizing a fudraising campaign for this on Kickstarter. There are pledges ranging from €3 to €1473 and in return for the pledge you can get a range of different rewards – from an e-copy of the book, to a signed hard copy, and even the possibility of seeing your child painted in a mural as a main character in the book, or painted on page in your own book! When you submit a pledge on Kickstarter and ‘back a project’, your credit card does not get charged. A pledge is merely a promise from your end that if the campaign does get fully funded by 15/08, then you agree that the amount you selected will be charged at that time on your credit card in exchange for the reward you selected. You can check all the various rewards on their campaign page on Kickstarter – https://kck.st/2mvgOR5
About Elisavet Arkolaki
I’m a mother of two young children, an entrepreneur, a professional writer, online marketer, and a certified teacher of two foreign languages. I run the top parenting blog in Malta www.maltamum.com, and I’m the exclusive retailer in Malta of two of the biggest international babywearing brands (Ergobaby and Tula). I’m also the co-founder of All-in Translations, an international multiple-award winning translations company. I have a certificate of proficiency in English from the University of Cambridge, and for half a year I studied at Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris via the Erasmus scholarship program. I have a bachelor degree in French Language and Literature from the University of Athens, and a Master of Science in Global Marketing from the University of Liverpool. I have lived in six countries, including Malta for about a decade, and I have travelled around the world. My biggest passion has always been, and still remains, the written world.
In today’s divisional climate, there comes a children’s book that promotes unity by giving a universal answer to the burning question ‘Where am I from?’. The book will be illustrated in full with graffiti and is aimed for children aged 3-8.
“A book that talks about such issues in an interesting way matters and deserves a place in evey child’s library. The first years in a child’s life are the most impressionable ones thus rendering a book of this nature very important for their development.” Elisavet Arkolaki says when asked why she came up with this story and book concept. “Through a fun story which involves lots of travelling, the children will get to experience the colours of the world while looking at stunning graffiti on the book’s pages. ‘Where am I from?’ celebrates the beauty of diversity while concluding that we are all inherently the same. Should we wish to raise a future generation that see themselves as citizens of the world, diverse and multicultural books are mandatory.”
About Elisavet Arkolaki 
