“A nine-year-old girl goes to school in a car pool. The driver’s help always makes her sit next to him and puts his arm around her… He tells her how pretty she is. Do you think this man’s behaviour is okay?

“An uncle of a girl always wants to be alone with her. He keeps playing with her hair and holding her hand. What should she do?”

“What will you do if you do not fare well in your examinations or if you are being blamed for something you have not done?”

Excerpts from new-age textbooks that aim to teach the young ones how to tackle real-life problems. The first two examples are from a chapter titled ‘Protect Yourself’ in the Class V textbook and the third one is from ‘Life is too Precious’, a chapter to be studied in Class VII.

Veteran academician Neil O’Brien and son Barry O’Brien have authored the series of interactive textbooks, Get Set, Go! for classes I to VIII. The books, launched in the city on Monday, can be used by any board.

“Our intention was to prepare an integrated course so that a child develops an all-round personality and grows up as a responsible citizen and good human being. We have covered four main aspects — general awareness, general knowledge, personality development and life skills,” said Neil O’Brien.

A new-age survival kit in the form of easy-to-read texts has become a necessity. “Certain problems are quite old, such as sexual abuse of children. But the situation is alarming and needs intervention. We hope the youngsters can be taught how to protect themselves through these lessons,” added Barry, who is also an MLA.