DALLAS, Texas – Tommys World Entertainment (TWE), a children’s entertainment company for kids with parents in the trucking industry, is looking to give tots a lesson in trucking with the latest installment in its rapidly expanding empire, Tommys World University (TWU).

TWU is an educational kit that includes a Tommy Tunes CD (a previously-released disc featuring chidren’s music with trucking themes), a story/colouring book and a read-along cinematic CD (similar to one of TWE’s upcoming animated cartoon adventures on DVD, minus the visual).

The audio CD gives the child a personalized introduction to their parent’s new company with an outline on how the trucking industry works, including why the parent must sometimes leave for days at a time.

“The child can learn about why Dad is going to be gone for two weeks instead of just, ‘Why is he gone?’ ‘Where is he? What does he do?’ This explains all that,” said Leonard Michael Wendland, president and founder of TWE.

A sampler of the audio CD is now available on the TWE Web site (www.mytommysworld.com) for those who want to get a feel for the adventure. The pint-sized voice of Wayne – a character from the upcoming DVD series – welcomes the listener to the new company, accompanied by a blend of futuristic music and engine-revving sound effects.

“We totally personalize it for each trucking company,” Wendland said. “The character Wayne will say, ‘Hi, welcome to the Schneider family,’ or whatever company it might be.”

Wendland is currently marketing TWU to carriers, hoping they will give the kit to their new hires who will in turn use it to explain their new job to their children.

“Let’s say you’re a recruiting director or some sort of trainer and you’re in charge of giving new drivers all their materials. The benefit of Tommys World University would be children don’t understand what happens while the parents are away on the road. They don’t understand how the trucking industry works. The message TWU sends home is that that carrier is thinking about that family. What would ‘mamma’ say if her husband came home with the Tommys World University CD? She’d be saying, ‘Oh my gosh, this carrier is thinking about me. They’re thinking about my children. This is a family-based carrier.'”

Wendland also said the kit will potentially help with driver retention.

“If the family feels like they’re genuinely cared for and the carrier’s thinking about them, I think a driver would be more apt to stay there.”

TWU is being marketed for carriers, but on the consumer side of things, there is a series called “Big Rig High School.” That version of the kit will be sold at travel centres and truck stops across the continent.

At the moment, a buzz is being created by both TWU and Big Rig High School, as each are marketed to carriers and truck stops.

“We’ve got to get through to the big people to get to the little people,” said Wendland.

By presenting the information about the trucking industry on a platform children can relate to, Wendland is hoping to educate them and sell the industry to the drivers of the future.

“How do we bring up new truck drivers? We have to invest in the future, to get children interested in trucking and interested in trucks.”