So, I'd like to make children's books illustrating true stories
of fabulous fun friendships and familial love
between humans and other animals.
The idea is that the rising generations have the power and also motivation
to create a new way of being in relationship with other species.
I'd like to make them bilingual, page by page translated in order that
they will make great teaching tools,
between Spanish and English
Portugese and English...other languages perhaps with time...
They should be available to the schools for free.
And profits from the sale of them in other platforms/formats
can be funneled into providing them to the schools
as well as aid programs for animals in need, on the streets,
foster care, adoption efforts, catch and release spay and neuter, etcetera.
This is the first of the story ideas that I am working on.
This is a true story of a great friend who we called Yaya.
It's only in English so far and I have yet to illustrate it.
My sister helped to edit this:
The Story of Yaya, The Squirrel
page one:
One day, Nessy, Jeri and I were walking home from school together when we heard a very sad crying sound. Naturally, we went quickly to discover who was crying and how we could help. High up in a tall oak tree, we could hear the source of the desperate sounding cries. we three stood under the tree looking up, when down jumped a teeny tiny baby squirrel.
{illustration of us looking up, Jeri with her hands out questioningly}
page 2:
And it actually landed in Jeri's hand, just like this:
{illustration: same as last illustration, with faces of surprised concern and baby squirrel in hand}
A moment later, another baby jumped down and we couldn't catch it, but it was ok; thank Goodness!
page 3:
But wait. We heard one more crying little voice coming from the street. And there she was just beyond the edge of the curb, walking in little circles because one of her back legs was hurt. She stopped crying when I picked her up, curled up in my cupped hands where I held her against my heart, and promptly fell asleep.
{illustration}
page 4:
The tall oak was on the front lawn of a house whose inhabitants soon came out. They told us that the Momma squirrel had been hit by a car three days ago and the babies were up so high in the tree, that they didn't know how to help them.
{small illustration?}
Luckily, there is a veterinary clinic in our town that rehabilitates wild animals in need of help and releases them when they are strong and well enough to survive. The first two babes, we brought right over to that clinic.
page 5:
Since it was clearly visible that the core truth of our family included caring for animals in need, I brought the injured baby home with me. Jossie, my sister, Mom and Dad were all excited to welcome her home. We named her Yaya, as the night before, my friend Megan had a wacky dream in which I had a baby named Yaya.
{illustration}
page 6:
We fed Yaya kitten formula from a little bottle every few hours at first. Mostly Mom did this job, carrying Yaya around in her pocket even to the grocery store. When she was mature enough, Yaya ate a "mush" of grains mixed with her formula milk, and lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds. She ate like this:
{split illustration: one above text in left corner of Yaya in Mom's shirt pocket...
In lower right corner, below text: Yaya swimming in her bowl of "mush"}
page 7:
Thankfully, she really enjoyed a warm shower in the kitchen sink, after meals!
{illustration}
We did physical therapy to rehabilitate her injured leg every day. She recuperated very quickly and she could walk and run and climb just like any squirrel.
{illustration}
page 8:
As a baby, Yaya lived inside the house. She needed protection and warmth. As she grew to adulthood, she needed to be outside to play all day with other squirrels and collect her own food. It's quite entertaining to watch them play and enjoy themselves with complex acrobatics!
{illustration}
We built a little house for her with a doorknocker and everything;
{illustration}
we hung it up high in her favorite tree in the backyard of our house. We knew that she needed to live outside because we could see that she was becoming unhappy being always inside.
page 9:
When Jossie and I got home from school each day, Yaya would zzoooom over to us and joyously leap from my shoulder to Jossie's shoulder, and back and forth from one to the other of us. {illustration}
When Dad came home, she knew the sound of his car and ran to greet him.
{illustration}
page 10:
Sometimes Dad would ring a little bell to call Yaya to come to our house for a visit. She always came zipping to the back door and was rewarded with a hazelnut. She was extremely clever and observant! She invented many behaviors and games that seemed to us like tricks meant to entertain and engage us, such as dancing and even "tag" and hide and seek. She taught her versions of these games to us, or perhaps we were teaching one another.
{illustration}
Page 11:
While we were carrying in the groceries the door to the house was left open and...Surprise! Who would be sitting on the kitchen table waiting for us? Yaya!
(Illustration?)
page 12:
{staggered text and illustrations}
One day, when she came into the house for a visit, she climbed right up the bookshelves where Dad's bell was stashed....
{illustration}
.......grabbed the bell in her mouth and shook it to make it ring!
{illustration}
The whole family laughed a bunch and Yaya, of course, got a hazelnut as a treat.
{illustration}
... How did Yaya get along with the cats...?
Do you have a story to share?
I wrote this, my sister helped with editing. At some point this week, I will make a first draft translation into spanish.