Walk into Professor Mel Rosenberg's office at Tel Aviv University, and you'll find four separate bookshelves. The first is reserved for scientific books and magazines (Mel is the world expert in bad breath, with dozens of scientific articles and books to his credit). The second houses all his inventions (notably Dentyl pH, the second best selling mouthwash in the UK). The third is home to his music library (he has just finished recording his second jazz CD). The fourth, his favorite, displays Mel the Smell Dragon, Kenya the Kangaroo, Gloomeris the Serious Laughing Hyena and other colorful clay characters from his latest children's books, now available for free on his new website:www.meltells.com
``Over the past five years, the university here has received a substantial sum in royalties from the sales of my inventions, and I have decided to invest some of my share to benefit society,`` he explains. So last year Mel hired an award-winning illustrator of children's book, Rotem Omri, with the goal of illustrating all his children's stories. But with one crazy twist. Instead of looking for a publisher to manufacture and sell the books, he is providing them free over the internet for parents and kids everywhere. The books look like real books, the pages flip, and you can even hear Prof. Rosenberg narrating the stories (and singing hip hop as well!). Prof. Rosenberg's stories are fun, but they also bring home important messages, such as brushing your teeth, health and wellbeing, and facing up to challenges. For example, Prof. Rosenberg's alter ego, ``Mel the Smell Dragon`` learns to adapt to a new way of life when Peter's Dragon Dry Goods Store turns into an ice cream palace. Another memorable character is Dr. William Cluck III, a wacky but wise upside-down rooster who helps his patients solve their own pressing problems.
According to Prof. Rosenberg, his investment in www.meltells.com is just the beginning. ``Every few months, another illustrated story of mine will appear on the site, and I don't plan to run out of stories.`` Eventually he hopes to enlist sponsors to help promote the site and translate it into other languages.
``Hopefully people will realize that publishing books for free on the internet is the future``, he says. ``I don't think that this will hurt actual book sales, but will probably increase them.`` Two of Prof. Rosenberg's books have been published in English, Hebrew and Arabic, and he is certain that his new website will eventually facilitate publication of all his stories.
So curl up in front of a warm computer and enjoy any or all of the eight illustrated stories already online. Kids from the age of four to ninety-four are more than welcome.
Keywords:
garoo;
mel rosenberg;
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rosenberg children;
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free online children's stories;
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