Tuesday, August 30, 2016

BOOK Launch Highlights worth sharing

What a BOOK Launch it was?

‘Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parenting’
181 Corlett Drive Johannesburg
3rd March 2016 at 5pm.

The next book launch was on Saturday the 4th June 2016. It was hosted at the Profound Conference Centre in Bramley; North East of Johannesburg. It was a joint launch of ‘Smelly Cats’ by 9 year old Stacey Fru and Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parenting’ by me. Note that this book launch will be coordinated in a workshop style because mother and daughter would like to share their inspirations and strategies on how they both started and continue writing.

3rd of March 2016 is long past but the memories are still fresh. Still fresh because the chairlady of the day Ms. Tereska Muishond threw the guest in with a poem titled ‘The story.’ This and other heart-warming words and gestures turned the day into a poetic evening.
Poem just flowing
Then our wonderful SPEAKER; Dr. Daantjie Japhta who flew in from Port Elizabeth paid tribute to parents when he spoke on ‘Parenting and Spirituality.’ He also dedicated a poem to the my family directing attributes to one family member after the other, starting with the my brother and sponsor.

The prolific speaker
Our mother of Jazz Judith Sephuma intrigued guests with her realities as a ‘full time working mother and involved parent’. Guest were caught glued as the vibrant Judith made sense of the book by relating how she has empowered her children one after the other and still continues to do so.

This time, she is talking, not singing
The GUEST SPEAKER of this evening had just turned 9. Ms. Stacey Fru, my second child reminded parents of their roles as she imagined what I must have gone through in writing, parenting, studying and working mother and wife. Her inspiring talk in her capacity as author, motivational speaker and Growing Child truly captivated the audience.
Speaking about her mother
It was a wonderful evening. My spouse and partner in parenting, working and living took the podium. Dr. Emmanuel Fru gave an engaging talk on being an ‘Involved Father’. He also gave the audience a snippet of my writing life by telling them the kind of instances that I typically write for.

Husband to wife. Experience talking
When parents are involved parents teach children a lot of what they become. Anna Wallis is passionate about educating children, and her talk on ‘Educating Children’ played out her passion. Using facts from the book, she warned that adults make a greater part of what children become. 
Passion flows
Then it was time for author, mother, radio personality and an astute parenting role-model Nikki Bush to amaze the audience. Nikki based her talk on her writings and the synergy her works creates with Involved Parenting as portrayed in my books and works.
Parenting voice
Author and woman of the day was no one but me. I am a married full time working mother of 4 children; ages 10, 9, 6 and 4. I proudly presented on the book titled ‘Stop Complaining! and Bring Back Involved Parenting’. I told the curious audience what it took me to write and thanked those who stood by me. I called on parents to be involved in parenting and took some questions also. 

I remain grateful
The Book Summary
Parents have traditionally depended on life to raise children for them. But relentlessly, they have worked hard to make sure that their children turn out to be what they desire. The pressures of life have not given parents, caregivers and guardians a break though. What have they done? 

Get your own copy
This book highlights the changing roles of parents, gender diversity, the emergence of new types of parents and family patterns, mobility, the ever-growing love for materialism and many more as makers or breaker to parenting efforts. As children grow, adults complain that they don’t listen, they are lazy, too fat, too rude, don’t greet, don’t eat, don’t sleep, don’t pray, don’t cover nakedness, have sex too early, get exposed to alcohol and drugs, use weapons, don’t cherish marriage, have children too late or too early, have no work ethics, are too materialistic, spend and not save, very ungrateful, not responsible, don’t love and care, keep bad companions, are impatient, don’t parent, etc. Do adults really look at causes? Jails are full and churches are empty. This book subtly reminds adults, institutions, policy-makers and governments to accept that they have parented differently and to relook at how ideal children were raised. The interactions lead to a second book which calls on the re-establishment of cultural rules and principles that traditionally governed children’s upbringing. It has to be done one person, one family, one organisation, one government and one book at a time. Let’s start engaging in discussions that encourage us to stop complaining and start investing in parenting with joy. Happy reading! 


Victorine Mbong Shu

Author and Involved Parenting Conversationalist

 Availability of book

Copies can be bought from the following avenues;
 Victorine on +27 82 548 6385
My works on www.mbongshu.co.za 
Publisher on +27 11 346 8300/www.profounder.co.za 
Xarra Books: www.Xarrabooks.co.za
     Online in South Africa: www.sabooksearch.co.za 
     Hard Copies: +27 11 440 7501- Johannesburg or www.profoundcentre.co.za 
Amazon books on www.amazon.com (search by book title) or eBook on www.kindle.com  


Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Stacey Fru honoured among Africa’s youngest published authors 2015



Are these Africa’s youngest published authors? World marks #InternationalChildrensBookDay



World marks #InternationalChildrensBookDay: “Once upon a time”
2 April every year the world celebrates children’s books and inspiring a love of reading.
Each year the Day is sponsored by a different country member of the International Board on Books for Young People. It decides on a theme and invites an author from that country to write a message to the children of the world and a well-known illustrator to design a poster.
The day is specially celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books. This year’s theme is “Once Upon A Time”. The country sponsoring the event is Brazil.

Hans Christian Andersen
On this same day, the world also celebrates the late Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday. He was born on the 2 April 1805 and died on 4 August 1875. Andersen is best remembered for his fairy tales, which have been translated into more than 125 languages.
The books according to Wikipedia have become culturally embedded in the West’s collective consciousness, readily accessible to children, but presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers as well.

Celebrating young published authors

Stacey Fru
1. Stacey Fru
Stacey is a fun-loving and bubbly young girl born on the 16th of February 2007 in Johannesburg. She is the second of four children and a Grade 3 learner. Stacey is a self-acclaimed and self-trained published South African Author. Stacey is writing stories, essays and attempting songs. She is a guitarist who loves the sound of her own voice.
This book titled Smelly Cats is about two cats who are cousins. It portrays the common challenges of different socio-religious and academic backgrounds as well as challenges posed by geographical locations to the two on a daily basis. Stacey’s book also depicts that even though the cats come from the same family, they are bound to have differences due to who they are. The constant fights are real reflections of daily lives. However just like in real life, fights are a vital spice of life that do not last forever.
Source: http://staceyfru.co.za/

Reikantse Manaka
2. Reikantse Manaka
The 11 – year- old from Free State is not an ordinary 10-year-old.
Manaka, unlike her peers, would rather read and write during break at school than play.
The result of this is that at her tender age, Manaka is already a published author whose book is entitled, High Ten for Reikantse.
The 36-page offering is a collection of short stories and the book was a real team effort with some story ideas coming from Manaka’s 6-year-old sister Rorisang.
Apart from writing, which she calls her first love, Reikantse also does speech and drama at school as well as public speaking.
3. Ngure Matu Ndiritu


Ngure Matu Ndiritu
He is Kenya’s youngest published author.
Out of the Box is the title of the book written by Ngure. The book was published in 2014 when he was just 8 years old.
He hopes to write 100 books by the time he gets to 30 years.
Ngure wants to be  be a pilot and, if that fails, the president of Kenya in that order.