Storybook sparks global buzz

Published on isbi School News dated Friday 1st of June 2012

A storybook written and illustrated by a team of sixth form students at Wisbech Grammar School has proved just the business in the area round of a contest for young business executives.

The tale of 'Stanley the snake and Bernard the bee', which is the main product of the Young Enterprise company, Odyssey, helped the lower sixth form students to pick up the trophies for Peterborough area final winner and the company management award in the final of the competition at The Learning Centre at Perkins Engines in Peterborough.

The book, which tells the story of Stanley the snake who has to leave his natural habitat and move when his home is destroyed, is about sharing and living with different kinds of people. When it went on sale on Kindle, where it has generated five-star reviews, it reached number four in the friendship category.

Members of the team were keen to use local business to print the book and create puppets of the main characters and the budding businessmen and women have already translated the tale into five other languages.

United States based carpet manufacturer InterFace, which makes grants for community projects which have sustainability and environmentally friendly elements, added a further international dimension when it decided that the idea was so good that it would donate $1000 to help the team with costs.

For the area final the team had to prepare a five-minute presentation and a 10-page business report that was judged by local business leaders and Odyssey beat five other companies to take the glass trophies that were awarded.

Key personnel in the team included managing director James De Leuce, finance director Callum Gurbutt and project manager for the book, William Page.

Link teacher Ms Kate Flanagan said: 'They have done fantastically well. I'm really proud of how they used lots of local suppliers, worked with local primary schools and took advantage of the latest technology by uploading their story on to Kindle.'