Behind the Story
When I first shared with others that I’d begun to write stories, I was blessed with them, in turn, telling me of tales they’d considered composing themselves. I’ve heard many great ideas that I’d wished I’d thought of!
This was how my third children’s book began over a year ago. A friend of my mom’s explained how she’d always wanted to write a story of birds getting into trouble because they didn’t listen to their parents. Yes, in my mind, I do believe that even animal kingdom babies tend not to follow parental directions.
That was all I got! My mom then said, “Okay! Write the book.” Thanks a lot, mom! However, I remained undaunted in my endeavor to write something from almost nothing. Any person who aspires to become an author can do this. Right?
With the friend’s approval and her handwritten notes on crumpled yellow legal-sized paper, I proceeded to go through a process to create, as my mom and I called it, the bird book. First, I had to decide what species of birds would be chosen. I surfed the web and came upon images of parakeets. These cuties caught my eye because they were so colorful. I felt the illustrations would make beautiful images.
But where did my new fantasy birds live? It was back into a deep dive to learn the answer. I wanted an exotic location. That’s when I stumbled, not in reality, although I’ve been good for a fabulous performance of my back end meeting the floor, on the Seychelles Islands. Located out in the western Indian Ocean, this group of one hundred and fifteen islands was perfect. I also found a write up of how the Seychelles parakeet had once been spotted on the island of Praslin.
This is how Henri and the Last Parakeet of Praslin, my next children’s book, was born. Not only did one of my main characters, Camille, and her two sisters disobey their parents’ rule, but they learned an important lesson of following directions.
As I wrote the lines of dialogue and description of scenes, I decided to add in a current topic which is on most peoples’ minds and that is one of conservation. We live in a changing world and must learn to adapt in such a way as to help in the preservation of the natural beauty around us. This theme originally wasn’t the central topic, but researching about the species and its natural habitat changed the course of the story’s message.
Unfortunately, the Seychelles Parakeet no longer lives nor thrives on this planet. Its habitat and food supply were destroyed long ago. Only one known drawing of a living one even exists. How many countless other animals have become extinct at the hands of humankind?
Today, there is a conservation society which works on saving the bird species on the various inhabited islands. Therefore, I’ve decided that fifty percent of the profits from this book will be sent yearly to assist in the conservation efforts of these hard-working men and women of the Seychelles.
