Why Zebras Have Black and White Stripes
by Eric Pullin
Kindle Edition, 36 pages
Published: January 15, 2011
by Barny Books
ASIN: B004JF4MZ6
Book Source: Bought
5 stars
Book Description: The Why Series is a collection funny, fantasy stories for children (and grown-ups too) Each story tells the tale of why something should be the way that it is, all written in amusing verse and fully colour illustrated.
There’s a game – “Find the Owl” – in every book so please join in and play.
5 titles are currently available in The Why Series –
Book 1 Why Owls Are The Wisest Birds
Book 2 Why There Are Waves On The Sea
Book 3 Why Stars Come Out At Night
Book 4 Why Animals Don’t Talk
Book 5 Why Zebras Have Black And White Stripes
Please enjoy my stories.
Mary’s Review: All the animals in the world are white. Everything else on the earth has a color. Blue flowers, yellow sun, green grass, but not the animals until one day a chimpanzee wondered what it would like to be a different color. Orange, red, brown. Before you could count to 10 he had all the animals daydreaming about what color they would like to be. Leave it up to the chimpanzee to find a way to color all the animals. Come join the fun and see how the animals got their colors and how the zebra came to be black and white striped.
This is a very clever little book; very imaginative and the illustrations are delightful.
I recommend this book for ages 4 and up.
About The Author: This is all new to me – but very exciting.
Not too long ago I would never have dared to dream of having a book published. Now I have ten and, hopefully, many more to come.
I’m just a very ordinary guy who has always loved to write. I am now nearly 65yrs old, married with 4 children ( all grown up) and two beautiful grand daughters who are growing up too fast.
My books called “The Why Series” are written for my grand daughters Lucy, age 9yrs and Lulah age 6yrs. They are my pride and joy.
Life has been kind to me. “Family” is the most important word in my life. A wonderful mother and father, two fantastic sisters and a big brother who is just “the best” have given me a very stable and happy life. Add to that my lovely wife who is always with me in everything I do and my own children of whom I am very proud and you can see just how lucky I have been.
My career as an author began 9 years ago with the birth of my first grand daughter Lucy. As with all new grandfathers I wanted to become the best grandad in the World. I tried to think of something very special that I could give to Lucy – something that she would grow up to cherish. I decided to write her a story – a story that she could call her very own story, a story that one day, she could tell her own children and say ” My grampy wrote that for me when I was little”.
I began to write a story about a cat called Digweed – just a short bedtime tale, or so I thought. Once I started writing I simply couldn’t stop and instead of a short bedtime story I found that 4 months later I had written a 100,000 word book called “Digweed the Cat”.
“Digweed the Cat” was hardly suitable to give to a new baby so Lucy didn’t get her special present until her 7th birthday. Now, instead of me reading my story to her, she reads “Digweed” to me. We haven’t finished it yet but Lucy loves the story so far.
Digweed the Cat has now been transformed into a 5 book series ( each chapter book is about 10,000 words long). All 5 books are now available on Kindle
When my second grand daughter, Lulah, was born, my family said that, having written something for Lucy, I must do likewise for Lulah.
This time I was determined to write a short story – a little bedtime tale.
One day I was out for a walk with Lucy, who was now nearly 3yrs old. Walking in the woods behind my home, we bumped into a lady who was walking two enormous dogs. Unafraid, Lucy began to stroke one of the dogs whilst I talked with their owner. After a few moments, the dog who was not being fussed by Lucy became a little jealous and began to bark. Being such a big dog, it produced a very loud bark which frightened Lucy.
The woman became very cross with her dog for frightening such a sweet little girl and shouted at it. This, I think, upset Lucy even more than the barking. I tried to calm the situation by saying to the woman “Please don’t shout at your dog – I think that he was just trying to tell Lucy that he would like to be stroked as well.”
Lucy thought that this was fine and gave the “barking” dog a cuddle and we carried on with our walk.
I sensed that Lucy had something on her mind because she wasn’t chattering away as she normally would. Suddenly she turned to me and said ” Grampy – Why don’t animals talk like we do?”
Lucy had decided that if the silly dog had just said ” Please give me a bit of fuss too.” instead of barking so loudly the problems would not have arisen.
I thought “What a wonderful question for one so young to ask”
I started to try to explain why dogs bark and cows moo etc. but I soon found that I wasn’t making a very good job of my explanation. So I said to Lucy – I’ll write a story about it and we can make it our story for Lulah.
That night I wrote the story of “Why Animals Don’t Talk” and, as soon as I had finished it, I realised that I could write lots of similar stories about why things are the way that they are – not in reality, but in a fantasy world for children.
That night “The Why Series” was born.
Now I have published five titles and there are many more stories already written that will be added to the series bit by bit.
There are many people that I have to thank for helping me get this far. Lucy, of course, my wife Penny for her continual support and encouragement, my sisters Rosie and Gill who have helped me all the way, especially with producing and promoting my work, my illustrator Chris Davis who is hugely talented as well as being a great guy, my publishers, Barny Books, my printer, Richard and lots more. I am so grateful to you all.
Please enjoy reading my stories as much as I enjoy writing them. If you do, “The Why Series” will continue to grow. Help that to happen by telling all your friends about the books and, if you ever have a question for me, please don’t hesitate to email me or write to me. You will find all my details on our website www.thewhyseries.co.uk
