The elves born of bedtime stories

Unable to bear watching his siblings play in peace, Robert grabbed the doll, pulled off its limbs and head and made his sister cry, but no punishment reformed his horrid habits.

Robert would order his parents around, refuse to get up for the elderly if the bus was full, and be rude to those in authority, until he found a giant to put the young elf in his place.

The engaging story of The Rude Elf, penned by Alexandra Aquilina and published by Allied Publications, is an attempt to instil good manners in a young generation that seems to lack respect and good conduct.

The story is one in a series of six tales for young children, aged six to 10, geared to spark their imagination in a fast-paced world dominated by computer games and television.

"Children need to get their imagination fired up and not rush their childhood," Ms Aquilina said, as she recounted how she got roped into putting her stories on paper.

A teacher of English at an elementary school in Milan for the past 20 years, Ms Aquilina would teach her students the language by recounting stories of elves, at times using mime to animate the tale and make it more memorable.

She was enchanted by elves from a young age when her aunt Gladys, also a teacher, would invent bedtime stories in a bid to get her to sleep. She never forgot those stories and the elves kept resurfacing in her own tales.

One day after school, three years ago, she saw a burly man waiting for her outside class, and she was initially worried something had happened - this episode set the ball rolling for her series.

"This man told me that his children would not let them have dinner until they recounted the entire elf story of the day. He asked me if I could write the tales down, so that maybe they could have dinner on time," she said, laughing as she remembered the episode.

She first started writing the stories down on separate sheaves of paper, which she handed out to the class, but her mind was burning with the idea of one day getting them published.

She encouraged two of her former pupils - Sara Stella and Ahmed Abdel-Al - who excelled in art, to draw the illustrations to go with the children's books and she finally realised her dream when the series was launched in Malta this week. Ms Aquilina is also planning a small launch party in Milan.

The series, which is printed by Progress Press and will be available in bookshops in the coming days, is also available online from timesofmalta.com.