October 17, 2007

Drew Freeman
Founder/Publisher Aadrvark Adventure Stories
www.aardvarkstories.com

Drew Freeman took the audience at his October presentation into outer space and into the mind of children of all ages. With a volunteer from the crowd at the controls, Drew demonstrated what can happen when technology and education meet to make reading fun for kids of various abilities.

 Just a few short years ago Drew was a high tech executive concerned about his stepson, Keith, who was about to enter high school with what seemed like some serious reading issues. After having him tested privately, it turned out Keith had dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Frustrated about how this had gone undiagnosed all these years, Drew had a eureka moment about how to make reading more engaging when shopping for a present for a friend’s son.

 While looking at children’s books in late 2004, he thought, “wouldn’t it be cool if I wrote Terry his own story, with his name and photos in the book, making him the star of his own adventure?”

 By late 2005, he had taken a leap of faith by leaving the safe and secure world of engineering and had created a unique local niche in Santa Cruz . Aardvark Adventure Stories has not only created personalized books for thousands of kids, it has been the kids that have helped create their own books.

 There are seven basic stories, including a jungle adventure, sea adventure, princess tale, and the space adventure that our third grade teacher guided the audience through as they ate their pizza and sipped their wine. As she sat at the keyboard of Drew’s Mac, she was able to decide what to do when faced with an asteroid, space alien, or any number of other possible obstacles. By the time she was done, she had landed us all safely back on earth where others got to sit at the keyboard and get a taste of the fun children have when creating their own stories on the screen that become beautifully bound books they can hold in their hands and keep for a life-time. 

Aardvark Adventure Stories can be found at http://www.aardvarkstories.com/index.html where kids can create their own stories right from their own homes.