Educational books for children are typically targeted on a key subject, theme or life lesson.
The majority of children’s educational books read today, take a giant leap from early reader picture books to books filled with long texts. If your children are strong readers then this is a step they may well be comfortable with.
But what if reading is a struggle?
Your child has a Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)?
What if your child struggles to concentrate or understand text heavy books?
Perhaps your child is just not ready to progress to all text books?
Our series of ‘Gil visits …’ stories offer a mix of foreign language, geography, food and culture. Think of them as individual general knowledge stories. Each of our educational books, features an adventure to a new destination with child friendly characters. Our protagonist Gil is a cross between Indiana Jones, Ted Lasso and a regular child who likes to explore and finds poo jokes funny.
Depending on the destination, Gil may learn about ‘real world events’ which affect our planet. These can be excellent talking points for children and teachers / parents. Each destination is a place where families are likely to go on holiday / vacation. This provides an extra benefit to the children, as they may be able to use their newly learnt foreign words.
Each book ends with a short quiz, some translations of foreign words and phrases and some wordsearch puzzles. This makes for great teacher aids, in a straightforward and structured manner.
Because we never disclose where Gil lives, where has has come from or where he is going to, the books can be read in any order. Ultimately there is no beginning and no end to the series.
Educational Books as Teacher Aids
When our educational books are used in a school setting, we can provide teachers with printable PDF’s for them to give to their students. These will include the quiz, the wordsearches and the translations. By providing these additional PDF’s, you can keep your purchase costs to a minimum each year. This could allow you to buy more of the Gil’s educational stories.
All of the stories use ‘OpenDyslexic‘, which is a font designed to assist dyslexics with reading. It is a great font and non-dyslexics will be unaware that it is helping others, who require a little added assistance.
Gil the Gecko’s European Educational Books
You can check out all of our book trailers on our youtube channel
Gil Visits Dartmoor in England ….
On this adventure, Gil visits Dartmoor in the southwest of England to meet his friend Jojo, the otter. Jojo lives on a farm in the Dartmoor National Park, in Devonshire.
Gil Visits Corfu in Greece ….
On this adventure Gil Visits Corfu in Greece, to find the place where one of his favourite authors had lived.
He gets attacked by chickens, meets Stavros the goat and goes for a boat trip down the coast. Gil explores the ancient city of Kerkyra and visits a fort on the bay.
Gil Visits The Costa del Sol ….
On this adventure Gil visits the Costa del Sol on the south coast of Spain. He meets his friend Juan and sister Carmen. This is a place where you can snow ski in the mountains and sit on the beach in the same day.
Gil Visits Paris ….
Gil visits Paris, the capital city of France and gets mistaken for roast beef. He sits on a gargoyle’s head and keeps a watchful eye out for a hunchback, before pretending to be Godzilla attacking the ‘Awful Tower’.
Gil the Gecko’s Americas & Caribbean Educational Books
Gil Visits Orlando in Florida ….
On this adventure Gil visits Orlando in Florida, to meet his old friend Budge. Budge lives in one of the theme parks and he shows him round the city as well as the parks.
Gil Visits Costa Rica ….
On this adventure, Gil visits Costa Rica, to meet his friend Rafa. Rafa lives at hotel in the small town of Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is located on the Pacific coast of the Nicoya peninsula.
Gil Visits Toronto in Canada ….
On this adventure to Toronto, Gil meets up with his friend Laurent, the beaver. Together they visit the Niagara Falls, try poutine, hot dog chips and Gil takes a liking to ‘Tiger’s Tail’.
Gil Visits Quintana Roo in Mexico ….
On this adventure, Gil visits Quintana Roo in Mexico, to explore pyramids built by the Mayans. His trip starts badly when he treads on a cactus and nearly gets drowned by a jet-ski.
Gil Visits The Bahamas ….
On this adventure Gil travels to The Bahamas to meet with his friend Larry the iguana.
Gil discovers that ‘switcha’ is really refreshing, Benne cakes are delicious and you can’t eat ‘potcakes’. He gets called a ‘blabba mout’ and also sees a mirage of pigs. Or did he?
Gil the Gecko’s Far East & Oceania Educational Books
Gil Visits Australia & The Great Barrier Reef ….
On this adventure Gil visits The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, to meet his friend Mick the duck-billed platypus. He had always wanted to visit the most famous coral reef in the world and finally he got an invitation.
All published travel guides for kids have a short trailer. You can view them on youtube
Educational books are not just for school, especially if your children enjoy the stories. You can read about the benefits of children learning a new language on the following pages.
