The Quiet Boy and the Lonely Girl

Jayneen Sanders (aka Jay Dale) is an experienced Australian early years educator, children’s book author, and publisher.

She began her teaching career in the 1980s as a primary school teacher in rural Queensland, Australia, before moving to Melbourne, Victoria, where she taught at several inner-city schools. In 1985, Jayneen transitioned to a career as an educational editor and publisher.

In the early 1990s, Jayneen and her partner moved to Japan to work as English teachers for over three and a half years, during which time her first daughter was born.

Upon returning to Australia, Jayneen began working as an educational author and packager, authoring and producing numerous award-winning titles for the educational publishing industry. She is also an accomplished children’s book author, contributing to literacy series such as ZigZags, Totally Kidz, Deadly and Incredible, and a children’s picture book series for Penguin.

Jayneen is currently the lead author of the ‘Engage Literacy’ series published by Capstone, for which she has written over 150 titles.

A mother of three daughters and a former school councillor, Jayneen’s seven years of involvement with her local school inspired her to address child protection. Realizing the limited focus on this area, she utilized her writing and publishing skills to create ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept,’ aiming to assist parents, carers, and teachers in discussing sensitive topics and empowering children to speak up.

Following the positive reception of ‘Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept,’ Jayneen recognized a broader need for prevention education. She engaged in Protective Behaviours professional development and attended numerous conferences to enhance her knowledge in providing age-appropriate and empowering body safety and consent education for children.

Jayneen subsequently developed and published a comprehensive Body Safety and Respectful Relationship Teacher’s Resource Kit and authored additional children’s books on topics such as body safety, consent, respect, gender equality, social and emotional intelligence, and diversity and inclusion.

Currently, Jayneen co-manages Educate2Empower Publishing with her partner, Mark Sanders. Her dedication to child safety and empowerment remains strong, with ongoing projects including new manuscripts and freely available resources.

Martina Heiduczek grew up in a small fishing village on the Baltic Sea in Germany, where her childhood was filled with riding her Shetland pony through the forests, drawing, and reading. She now resides in Australia and works as an illustrator. Her artistic inspiration stems from nature, people, places, and observations of the world around her, encompassing both profound and whimsical subjects.

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