Back Story
The non-linear Timeline
The Conception
The Production
Every last detail in the creation of this book was infused with care and intention: from the choice of the ink, to the paper sourcing, to the printing house and its method, to the binding and those who bound them. The treatment of everybody included in the process, and the most sustainable resourcing was always held at the forefront.
This is why Timbo's Tales 1st edition books were printed and bound in Switzerland, where the creators live.
What the conscious deliberations led to:
- An offset printing technique to retain maximum amount of colour and vibrancy
- FSC-certified paper that comes from one of the most ecological paper companies in the world, located in Northern Europe.
- The sticker that comes with the book comes from neighbouring France.
And the creators followed their winding paths from Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Brazil, Sweden, and the USA… with a whole lot of love.
Timbo’s Tales was created during the years that I volunteered at a children’s hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the time, my former colleague, Taha Bawa, asked me to review a project taking place in a paediatric oncology hospital in Brazil where the IV bags used for chemotherapy were enclosed into cases that had superhero symbols on them. What a brilliant idea! You can make the kids believe the contents contain superpowers (which they pretty much do..)! We reached out to the company licensing the superhero symbols in order to extend the project to our local hospital. Our proposition was declined and our morale defeated... but only for a moment! Soon thereafter, we decided to create our own superhero, which gave us much more freedom than we initially would have had. So, I got down to work over the following several months to write and then illustrate Timbo’s Tales.
Timbo is a young and multi-ethnic child who empowers other kids to see their own importance as valuable citizens on this globe. Instead of repeating the conventional formula, where an adult comes to the aid of children, Timbo is a child that helps other children. This also happens everyday in real life!
In order to give it that extra, real-world dimension, the book comes with a sticker that can be placed on any object; a cup, a plate, an IV pack, an ice pack, a water-bottle, you name it... and this is where the magic happens. Wherever the "T" sticker is placed, the contents become a magical, healing elixir.
Yep, this works because of the Placebo effect! The Placebo effect leads to higher impact in children and adolescents because of their open-mindedness and willingness to believe. With the belief that one will get better, one can overcome obstacles and create a longer and healthier life. The mind is an extraordinarily powerful tool and Timbo’s Tales is here to cultivate that.
Extra reading:
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Placebo effects in children: a review: The authors screened over 50 scientific articles published on the placebo effect in children and adolescents and found that across a number of illnesses, children respond significantly higher to the placebo effect than adults.
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Putting the Placebo Effect to Work: A Harvard health letter that encourages using the power of mind healing, claiming that the placebo effect is a critical part of any good medical care and is a response to an article published in Harvard Magazine, The Placebo Phenomenon: which emphasises, along with the power of the placebo effect, the healing properties of quality caregiving.
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Mind over Medicine: A book dedicated to exploring how positive thoughts in the mind might in turn create spontaneous healing in the body, or the phenomenon of the “mind making itself well.”
