Duncan Guy, a reporter for the South Africa Press Association, has started a free email newspaper of top news stories written in easy-to-understand language for children. The paper now goes out to 700 addresses twice a week.

Developed with feedback from teachers, each issue carries one story from each of five basic news categories: world news, African news, environmental news, business, and sports.

Each edition contains both the stories in “kidspeak” and the adult wire copy, for which difficult words are highlighted and explained in a glossary.

The paper comes in two versions: The Times I Am Living In and the Afrikaans translation Die Tyd Waarin Ek Leef.

Guy first created the newspaper for his son, then presented it to his son’s school. He now distributes to students of over 300 schools.

He does not avoid major issues, but rather puts a positive spin on negative events. For example, he wrote about the war in the Ivory Coast through a story of a boy reunited with his family.

The paper also holds cartoon competitions, with Guy himself visiting schools to deliver the prizes. The paper follows successful production of children’s papers in South America and France.

"Just as an earthworm breaks down the soil to enable seeds to grow in it, this newspaper breaks down the news to enable kids to use it to develop their minds," Guy said.

Source: IOL through Ifra Executive News Service