Years ago my nephew, Max, gave me a stuffed animal (a poison dart frog) that I named after him, using his middle name, Faust. Leap forward to Christmastime, 2007 when I was broke. With no money for presents, I decided to write a story using ALL of the kids names' in my family. Family - this includes my brother, sister, step-brother and step-sisters children. There are 22! This number reflects not only divorces and marriages, but at least four pets. Faust became the protagonist in this story, and his adventure to deliver his urgent message to the Green Cat of Bangladesh unfurled.
Christmas Eve 2007, I read the story aloud to my family! Each child beamed when their name was mentioned and they were thrilled by Faust's escapades. Afterwards (and, for a few years following) they plead with me to publish the book. This year I placed that goal at the top of my priority list. With that being said, there was a lot of work to be done. I decided to edit the story, to make it more educational. In addition, every animal would be critically endangered, and facts concerning each would be strung together with some nonsense and rhyme. During my research I discovered animals I had never heard of - such as the Saola (see below). My writing Faust's Big Day - In Every Way! was equally exciting for me as Faust's adventure was for him.
Here are photos of a few of the characters. They will eventually be vibrant illustrations. Those characters not mentioned are reserved for the element of surprise.
- Nadine, the Narwhal
- Millicent, the Northern Black Millipede
- Nolan, the Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat
- Desi, the Pink Headed Duck
- Sammy, the Three-toed Sloth
- Sydney, the Saola
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