A children’s book with backdrop of dinosaurs

Jane Jaffer, an author based in the Sultanate of Oman, has launched her third children’s book titled Raifi’s Amazing Dinosaur Adventure at Let’s Read bookstore, Avenues Mall. The bilingual book has the story translated into Arabic by Maitha al Mandhari.

Her series of children’s books are related to Omani wildlife such as Saria and the Turtles as well as Dana and the Dolphins. Raifi’s Amazing Dinosaur Adventure also has a link to the Sultanate of Oman as dinosaur’s bones were discovered in 1997 in Al Khoudh.

“I visited the Natural Museum of Oman, and I got to see the discovered bones of dinosaurs and was able to take pictures. The staff were very helpful,” said Jane.

Jane came to the Sultanate of Oman as a primary teacher 41 years ago, “I started with a nursery school and education. I realised there were not enough books for children in the Sultanate of Oman or books that were written for Omani children. I think children relate better when they can understand the characters, motivating them to read those books. I thought I will write a book based on the Sultanate of Oman, and I had the Omani children to illustrate the story,” she said.

This was in 2006, and it was the book Dana and the Dolphins.

“When Saria was born, we had gone to Ras al Had and saw the turtle hatchlings. We just loved it, and it was so magical to watch the turtles.

“That is when I felt it would be nice to write a book, and the turtles came out of the experience. And now I have a grandson called Raifi, and he is absolutely obsessed with dinosaurs. I did a bit of research if dinosaur’s bones had been found in the Sultanate of Oman and they had. I went to the Natural Museum and spoke to the staff, and they showed me all the bones,” she explained. The story is for the young children about dinosaurs, but towards the back of the book, there is in-depth profiling of the dinosaurs appealing to older children. The book is bilingual and this time Jane decided to do the illustrations on her own.

In the story, a young boy goes for a walk in the mountains, and he comes across a cave. As he goes inside to explore, he finds eggs, and one of them is hatched and thus begins the story, and soon they are on an adventure.

During the launch, the story was read out in English by Jane Jaffer and in Arabic by Maitha al Mandhari, who translated the story into Arabic and is also a puppeteer as well as a storyteller. In addition, there were many activities conducted for children, including making finger puppets.

Jane is the founder of Let’s Read, now part of Dar al Atta’a, an initiative to encourage children to explore reading and thus the world of books. She has also authored novels, Love in the Time of Zanzibar and Scent of a Rose.