• Charles Sturt University Associate Professor Cate Thomas provides practictioner and academic advice on number one Australian children’s book – POWman: Unleash the Hero Within
• Book addresses issue of bullying and is the first of the series
• Authored by Dave Pow Tabain and Charles Sturt University alumni, Nadia Worland

Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) AssociateProfessor, Cate Thomas was one of three professional consultants who assisted with the production of Australia’s number one children’s book POWman: Unleash the Hero Within.

The children’s fiction book follows the story of Dave ‘Pow’ Tabain and his schoolmate, Stu who are being bullied. 

Dave creates a ‘POW PLAN’ to overcome the bullies and tests his plan during a sport afternoon, resulting in his friends winning a game of basketball and his plan being an ultimate success. 

Professor Thomas’s role in the professional consultation of the book was twofold, as a social work practitioner and an academic on content and structuring. 

“Firstly as a social work practitioner, my role was to review the content and strategies in the actual book to ensure the effectiveness of the strategies and that the advice was not harmful in any way to kids that were reading the book,” Professor Thomas said. 

“Secondly, as an academic, I provided advice on the content and structuring of the teacher’s notes to provide scaffolding and constructive alignment of concept/knowledge in the teachers packs.”

The book is about addressing the issue of bullying and is the first book in theseries.

Author and Charles Sturt alumni Nadia Worland said she was inspired to write the book after working with Harbour Publishing house for a number of years. 

“I was introduced to Dave Tabain who had experiences that would be great as a book, and Harbour Publishing believed we would be a good fit. 

“I knew that if we put our collective experiences together, we really had the basis for a book that could challenge people to look at the issue of bullying and help kids to approach and deal with bullying from a new and unique angle,” Ms Worland said. 

Professor Thomas will continue working with the POWman team through the development of the full series of POWman books.

Ms Worland said working with Professor was integral to the book.

“Cate was an integral part of the team given her qualifications as a social worker and her extensive knowledge in dealing with kids affected by difficult situations. She has supported us throughout the whole process,” Ms Worland said

For more information on POWman click here.