Wollongong teacher's children's book becomes overnight Amazon bestseller

Describing the experience as surreal, Miss Le said she was overjoyed her book, which carries an important underlying message, was being well received worldwide.

"The Tale of the Trolls is about rubbish that turns into trolls when students leave the school really messy one day and the trolls destroy all the things that kids love about school," Miss Le said.

The 25-year-old first came up with the story for a second year university assignment in 2016.

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"We were asked to write a story with a message and during my practicals I had noticed that students were leaving a lot of rubbish on the floor with no accountability to keep the school environment clean," she said.

The primary school teacher believed students needed to be educated about such behaviour in an engaging way and hence decided to write a book.

"In the story, the children then clean up the school and throw all the rubbish in the bin, having learnt a valuable lesson," she said.

Ms Le said books on sustainability were lacking in the school curriculum when they should be introduced to children at an early age.

"There's not many books that talk about sustainability or the environment, especially not in a way that's entertaining," she said.

Ms Le has also made available a range of educational resources and programs for teachers to buy along with the book which can be implemented in their schools.

"I have created programs that the teachers can use to encourage sustainable talks within their schools."

The book's success, Ms Le believes, can partly be attributed to her huge social media following.

"I have about 66,000 teachers following me on Instagram", Ms Le said. "I share resources for teaching and just general ideas there."

Ms Le initially used Instagram to share book week costume and art ideas and gradually the following grew as she posted more often.

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"I've had a few videos go viral. My last one was got around 2.7 million views," she said.

Ms Le has been contacted by several social media accounts for the work she does.

"Lots of teachers have found my account and left some lovely messages, and some big accounts have reached out to me for collaborations," she said.

The Wollongong teacher has received 100 per cent positive feedback from buyers all over the world.

"Lots of teachers were saying once they read out the story the kids said 'we need to pick up the rubbish before the trolls come'."

Miss Le was nominated Early Career Teacher of the Year last year and was the only public school state finalist.

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