H. L. Reader

I am a New Zealand based Primary school teacher, with a love of reading and using gamification and simulation in a classroom context. I specifically enjoy using Minecraft and SimCity to teach subjects from reading and writing through to maths, science concepts and social studies.

I created the Steve Surname Adventures Series (c), to appeal to a regular cohort of 8-11 year old boys who really didn't see any point in reading. But they LOVED computer games - especially Minecraft (who wouldn't, it's great!) They were what we call 'reluctant readers' who didn't really 'get' why books were fun or interesting. Oftentimes, these same kids had a reading level that was starting to fall behind, so I wanted to write a chapter book series (because they wanted to read chapter books like their mates) but with large print, high frequency words and everyday vocabulary. I had tried them on Zac Power and Jack Stalwart (which are also great for Hi-Lo readers) and sometimes these worked, but even these sometimes failed to stimulate their interest.

So, I set my stories in the computer game World of Minecraft, as research shows that students who can read books where they have really in-depth prior content knowledge, most readily engage with the text. By using words, pictures and characters that they have an almost encyclopedic understanding of, the boys were hooked into the stories from the start and their interest levels were higher than for any other 'boy friendly' texts I had tried. I still have my Zac Powers and Jack Stalwart books, and these make great texts for these boys to move on to, once they have discovered the previously hidden joys of the written word through a context they already love and understand.

I've received great feedback on the books from students, parents and teachers through the website www.stevesurname.com and through author visits to other schools in my area and local libraries. There are more books in development to continue the series and two spin-off series - The Alex Surname Adventures (c), and The Chronicles of Steve Surname (c) - are also in the early stages! I wish I had more time to write them!

I've priced the books at cost (or the minimum price the publishers allow me to set) in order to get these out to the widest readership possible. (The reason the illustrated edition is so expensive is that there is a colour picture every two or three pages and that means the whole book is printed in colour :-( It's the cheapest they let me price it though. The non-illustrated editions do have some pictures but the book is printed in black and white so it's much cheaper).

My dream would be to have a set in every primary/junior/elementary school library, where boys (and girls!) can find them and hopefully discover the joys hidden within these things we call 'books'.

If you are a teacher, parent or librarian and you have a child (or group of children) who are into gaming and Minecraft but perhaps struggle to pick up a book or read for a sustained period of time, then maybe this book series is for you...

Oh, and if you are a user of SnapInstaPinTwitBook, and you like the books and series, please tell all your followers/friends/likers/fans/subscribers about the Steve Surname and Alex Surname series'. I really appreciate all your kind words-of-mouth :-)

Contact me through Amazon or the Steve Surname website if you have any questions or feedback - as a teacher and author, I'm very much still learning myself!