Bel Richardson Profile

My name is Bel, and I work on the written content for our Bookbot stories. My background is in creative writing, and I have a PhD. from the Queensland University of Technology where I focused on Children’s and Young Adult Literature. I am now doing a degree in Applied Science, majoring in Biosciences, and I am particularly passionate about Environmental Science.

I have been teaching and tutoring in different capacities for ten years. Over the last five years, I have been living in Shanghai and working at English language schools. These are spaces where children attend classes after school and on the weekend to boost their English proficiency. It was through these classes that I became such a massive fan of phonics.

At both of the institutions that I have worked at in Shanghai, I have had the privilege of doing the order lists for the library and designing the class curriculums/materials. Through trial and error in my own classes, I learned the best ways to engage and motivate young learners. On top of learning English, I also placed a heavy focus on critical thinking and creativity to feed the students’ natural drive to enquire and imagine.

I have always been a big lover of picture books, with some of my favourite authors being Jon Klassen, Mo Willems, Peter Brown, and Adam Rubin. I also love YA series, such as Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, the Books of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau, and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman. I adore both writing and reading fantasy and science fiction. I hope that through my works I can give others the sense of joy and wonder that I experience when I read.