Peter Hayward

It’s funny how one event can become the catalyst to change your life. This was the case in 2010 when that unpronounceable Icelandic volcano erupted, throwing airlines and air travel into disarray. I was in England visiting my family and couldn’t return to Spain. What had seemed like a slight inconvenience, turned out to be one of the most important periods of my whole life.

Spending extra quality time with my grandson, Ashley, the seeds of ‘Learn with Alex and Anna’ were sown. Telling him countless stories, I was rewarded each time with: “That was a great story, Granddad”. From this point, my stories for children began.

I wrote a few stories with Ashley as the main character, later adding my granddaughter, Lilly, when she was born. People who then read the stories encouraged me to consider publishing them.

Watching some parents interact with their children, I realised that some adults needed educating just as much as some children. So, I changed the ethos of the series and Learn with Alex and Anna, educational stories for children, began to take form.

Living in Spain at the time, I joined Wordplay Writers, engaged an editor, taught myself to draw, designed the book, learnt how to format, then independently published. Hey presto, some years later 15 books have been published.

The Learn with Alex and Anna series of stories are essentially educational, and through them your child will discover lots of new and interesting facts, concepts and information. Each story is written around a basis of positive family and personal values. They are not gender specific, and offer challenging words to enable children to stretch their vocabulary.

Written for children six years plus, they encourage grownups to read to their children, to learn things together. As a child’s reading age improves they can read the stories themselves. Older people with learning difficulties and a young reading age can also benefit from these books.

Any child has a fantastic future ahead of them; all they need is a little support from the most important person in their life ... YOU!

My grandchildren, Ashley and Lilly, hope that through their, Learn with Alex and Anna stories, your child will have just as much fun learning as they still do while growing up.

My website www.learnwithalexandanna.com gives you information about our ethos and provides ongoing relations with children’s hospitals, schools and pupils.

You can follow us on:

Facebook.com/learnwithalexandanna;

Instagram.com/learnwithalexandanna;

twitter.com/peterhayward03

When Peter started his life his mother just happened to be with him at the time. Born in Ipswich, Suffolk he grew up amid a dysfunctional family. Peter spends time with his partner between England, Norway, Sweden and Spain.