Meet Robbie Cheadle.

Robbie Cheadle was born in London in the United Kingdom. Her father died when she was three months old and her mother immigrated to South Africa with her tiny baby girl. Robbie has lived in Johannesburg, George and Cape Town in South Africa and attended fourteen different schools. This gave her lots of opportunities to meet new people and learn lots of social skills as she was frequently “the new girl”.

Robbie is a qualified Chartered Accountant and specialises in corporate finance with a specific interest in listed entities and stock markets. Robbie has written a number of publications on listing equities and debt instruments in Africa and foreign direct investment into Africa.

Robbie is married to Terence Cheadle and they have two lovely boys, Gregory and Michael. Michael (aged 11) is the co-author of the Sir Chocolate series of books and attends school in Johannesburg. Gregory (aged 14) is an avid reader and assists Robbie and Michael with filming and editing their YouTube videos and editing their books.

Follow Robbie Cheadle at:
Blog: robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
Plus.google: https://plus.google.com/105609586198905397891
Facebook: @SirChocolateBooks
Twitter: @bakeandwrite

Guest Post – Why we wrote and published the Sir Chocolate book series

I was always a bookworm. I can remember paging through picture books as a very tiny girl and started reading at the age of four years old. The books that spring to mind when I think about my childhood are the Milly-Molly-Mandy series by Joyce Lancester Brisley, the My Naughty Little Sister series by Dorothy Edwards and the many books written by Enid Blyton. Both the Milly-Molly-Mandy series and the My Naughty Little Sister series depict the ordinary day to day life of children in a village setting with their neighbours, families, teachers, friends and siblings. Enid Blyton wrote adventures stories and imaginative tales about wishing chairs, elves, fairies and magic lands. Her stories are not realistic but they do promote core values of responsibility, family and friends. Remember when Joe, Beth and Fanny go to the Land of Magic Medicines to get their convalesing Mother a tonic to help her recover quickly and when the older sister in My Naughty Little Sister gets into trouble for letting her little sister get wet when she takes her fishing with a group of other children?

When I had my own children, 14 and 11 years ago, respectively, I intended for them to become readers and lovers of books. I read to them from a very early age, all the lovely books and stories that I had read to myself as a young girl and many other fables and tales of mythology and war that were “boys” books and which I had not read before myself. When my boys started school and learning how to read by themselves, I had to spend many hours listening to them read. I was slightly concerned about the nature of some of the books my boys were reading. We were also gifted many books by friends and family which were very different to the old-fashioned books from my own youth (which is not that long ago). Some of the modern stories were based on rather disturbing topics such as snooping on your neighbours, making horrible faces, chewing gum, tormenting siblings and wearing smelly and “grungy” clothing, a totally different sentiment from the books I knew and loved. As they have grown older, some of the books they read seemed to distain the concepts of hard-work, respect for teachers and authority figures, loyalty and kindness.

I try not to be narrow minded and I like a laugh as much as anyone else but I have discovered that my boys copy behaviour contained in books or movies without a single though for the consequences of their actions. I do not prevent my boys from reading any books. My view has always been that they must read what they want [and are able] to read but I have encouraged a large variety and mix of books ranging from classics to graphic novels to contemporary fiction and non-fiction. I want them to know and experience all sorts of ideas and viewpoints to give them a better ability to judge situations and circumstances and make sensible decisions.

I started writing initially with my son, Michael, to encourage him to practice writing as this fine motor skill did not come easily to him. Michael came up with the original concept of Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet who live in a land where you can eat everything and who have lots of fun little adventures searching for ingredients for their chocolate creations and helping out friends in need. Michael’s stories naturally embodied the values my husband and I encouraged in our boys and made for delightful little tales full of friendship and fun. I re-wrote the books in rhyming verse and expanded the themes. I also included simple recipes that children could do under adult supervision.

Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet’s gingerbread house 

I think the Sir Chocolate books provide an opportunity for children to experience something different and unique and to exercise their imaginations so when the opportunity came along for me to publish our series I was pleased to do so. I hope that the children who read Sir Chocolate enjoy them and spend enjoyable time creating their own fondant people and creatures.

Sir Chocolate books
There are currently two books available in the Sir Chocolate series, as follows:

Book 1:

Sir Chocolate and the strawberry cream berries story and cookbook

Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet live in Chocolate land where you can eat absolutely everything. Join them on a fantastic adventure to find the amazing strawberry cream berry and learn how to make some of their scrumptious recipes at the same time.

Book 2:

Sir Chocolate and the baby cookie monster story and cookbook

Sir Chocolate and Lady Sweet find a lost baby cookie monster. Join them on an adventure to return the baby to its mother and learn how to make some of their delicious recipes at the same time.

Book 3:

Sir Chocolate and the sugar dough bees story and cookbook – available March 2017
A greedy snail damages the flower fields and the fondant bees are in danger of starving. Join Sir Chocolate on an adventure to find the fruit drop fairies who have magic healing powers and discover how to make some of his favourite foods on the way.

You can purchase the Sir Chocolate books from:

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Chocolate-Baby-Cookie-Monster/dp/1911070290/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483862285&sr=1-3&keywords=Robbie+Cheadle; and
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sir-Chocolate-Strawberry-Cream-Berries/dp/1911070266/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483862285&sr=1-4&keywords=Robbie+Cheadle;
OR
Lulu.com
http://www.lulu.com/shop/robbie-cheadle-and-michael-cheadle/sir-chocolate-and-the-strawberry-cream-berries/paperback/product-22795575.html ;

OR
http://www.lulu.com/shop/robbie-cheadle-and-michael-cheadle/sir-chocolate-and-the-baby-cookie-monster/paperback/product-22902245.html;

OR
TSL Publications (http://tslbooks.uk/authors/robbie-and-michael-cheadle/).

You can buy them in South Africa directly from the authors by emailing Robbie Cheadle at sirchoc@outlook.com.