Captain Lalu is a fun pen name the author created to publish children's books. A captain's hat from his youth, which his parents had purchased for him, inspired the first name of Captain. For several years, he would not go anywhere, even inside the house, without his little captain's hat. His family thought it was adorable. He thought it was necessary ...since he was going to be a pilot when he grew up! That never happened, but for him it was still fun to imagine! The Lalu part also comes from his childhood. His parents both immigrated to Canada from Lebanon and in Arabic, the word Khalu means Uncle. The thing was, him and his siblings could not pronounce that, so instead they would say Lalu. Therefore, Lalu it was! Now, in his adulthood, he is a Lalu (uncle) to three beautiful nieces. Growing up was an absolute joy for Captain Lalu, being raised in a loving home with a loving family, in Ontario, Canada. His father was an avid music lover, especially Classical & Salsa. They had an abundance of music filled evenings in their homes. This inspired his creativity and led to his learning the piano, trumpet, trombone and his true love, the guitar! After teaching himself how to play the guitar he decided it was time to write his own songs. From there, the sky was the limit and the passion for writing was discovered. This was further reinforced in his English studies in High School where he won an award for a short story one of his English teachers had submitted for him. Class clown was the common label thrown at Captain Lalu, and he loved it! He is all about making people laugh and turning otherwise trivial situations into humourous ones, when appropriate of course. What he truly enjoys is lighting up the faces of wee little ones, as he himself becomes a big kid amongst them. This fills his heart with joy and he knew he wanted to do something to help bring even more joy, laughter and fun to as many children as he could. Hence, his journey into writing children's books! As adults, Captain Lalu believes we can learn so much from children. From their lighthearted attitudes to their unconditional love and compassion. Now he hopes to inspire their imaginations and help broaden their knowledge through fun, engaging, colourful books!
