It was the idea of having open-air lessons on the top of a building that really grabbed Richard and Lewis Edwards-Middleton’s children. Their four-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son were reading Munni’s Rooftop School, from Save the Children’s Wonderbooks series, and the school in question just sounded like so much fun. But there was more to the book that made it memorable. “Building on that fun, interesting element was the actual story around it, and how different it is in different countries,” says Richard. Those differences – including the fact that Munni, the book’s hero, had initially not been allowed to go to school – left his son taken aback, but full of empathy for a character he felt connected to.
“He asked lots of questions and that’s what we love, because we get to answer them,” says Lewis. “And we answer them truthfully, because there’s no point making out that the world is a fairytale.”
