Welcome to the Wonderful World of Storyteller Laurie Creator of A Little Tale for Big People Series

Share:

My series provides a transition from picture books to chapter books.When children learn to read it is a step towards independence. This makes them feel like a big person.

This series introduces children to the wonders of nature, while exploring social and environmental issues which affect them.

Memorable animal characters based on my nature photography are brought to life through word, and my colorful painted illustrations.

Gracie, a young gosling was my first. She looked straight in to my camera lens.
She was fearless and confident. This tiny ball of yellow fluff with inquisitive eyes became the hero in Gracie’s Flights of Fancy.

In Gracie’s Flights of Fancy Gracie wants to be a swan, or a bird with green feathers. She wants to be anything but grey.  Canada Geese turn grey before they have their adult feathers. Gracie is not ready to grow up.

Gracie runs away from home. She meets Butterfly and wishes she could have Butterfly’s graceful wings. She meets Beaver and Frog who have a band called Pond Scum. Gracie wants to join the band but cannot sing.

It is not until Gracie meets Dog that she learns that it is ok to turn grey. You can still try new things no matter who you are. Gracie find’s her voice and place in her family.

In Gracie’s Dream Gracie is now a mother and an environmentalist.She leads her family, and friends in a campaign to clean up their creek. Beaver has given up his music career and becomes a property developer. He builds a dam. The water level of the creek drops with garbage rising to the surface. Young readers learn about the impact that humans and animals have on the environment.

The environment is also a theme in Flying Pigs, Horse Flies and the Big Rain. This story is a retelling of the Great Flood for modern times.  The theme of this story is the impact extreme weather has on animals. Readers can also find out if pigs can really fly!

Cats of all sizes are characters in my books. My sister’s cat Buffy appears in Buffy’s Big Door. Buffy’s new friends are not the barn cats. They think he is pampered. His new friends are the farm animals, and the animals of the forest. Children learn that you will never know who your friends might be.

I met a family of lynxes living at the Montreal Bio do me. These are cats that travel for miles. Here they were kept in a small space. I wrote The Adventures of Lucy the Lynx to ask where do wild animals belong?Should they be held captive? Can they adapt to encroaching urbanization?

Lucy lives with her family in an animal sanctuary. She wants to visit her Aunt Maude who lives in the wilds of Alaska. She escapes with her friend Penny the Puffin. They get lost in the local public garden. They are returned to the sanctuary. Lucy dreams for a time where she will be able to be freely roam.

In Captain Katz and the Race for the Moon the hero is a one-eyed pirate cat. He gets caught up in a race for the Moon Catcher, the first sailing ship that can fly to the moon. The story considers how should we view the moon?  A place of wonder and awe, or a place to be commercially exploited.

Tiger Tom is a dancing, piano playing cat. He flies around the world in a Tiger Moth plane. In Tiger Tom Finds a News Song Tiger Tom feels blue because he cannot remember the words to songs. He travels to South America. There he meets Lazarus the Llama, who tells him, “If you are blue try something new.” In other words, don’t hang on to the past, use your talents to create a new world. Hearing fresh sounds in South America Tiger Tom creates new tunes. And he is no longer blue.

In Tiger Tom in Double Trouble he flies to Australia because he wants to learn how to play the didgeridoo. Tiger Tom learns what it takes to make a dream come true.

Follow the Wind Gordon and the Northern Lights is about Gordon a moose who lives in British Columbia. He travels to the Yukon to see the Northern Lights. He falls into the Columbia River and is swept across the border.

Gordon finds his way to the Yukon with the help of his new friend Karen, a dark-eyed moose from Skagway. The real Karen- the moose- lives at the Kroschel Wildlife Centre in Haines, Alaska. Adding a touch of magic, the ending has a twist when Gordon and Karen see the Northern Lights.

Whether at home, school, or in a community there are challenges in accommodating family, friends, and neighbours with special needs. I explore these tensions in Wink’s Magic Tale.

Wink is a squirrel adopted by Esther a herbalist and sorceress. The arrival of Wink upsets her home life and the lives of the animals that depend on her.

Wink will only eat corn and develops an insatiable appetite for it. Wink grows so large that he out grows Esther’s house and he has to leave.

Esther gives him a magic bag of corn to feed Wink’s hunger. He drops corn seed on the ground and corn instantly grows. The animals who depend on grass and clover for their food want Wink to leave. He is upsetting their pastoral life.

Tensions come to a head and Wink leaves the community.  At the end of the story there is intervention and reconciliation. Wink returns to the community.

The story Fiona Flying Fox Special Agent and the Mystery at the Rainbow Zoo is about gossip. The birds and animals are turning pink and purple in the zoo. Is someone tampering with the food? Is this a new type of bird flu?  There is plenty of pointing beaks.Fiona Flying Fox Special Agent is asked to come and use her investigative powers to solve the mystery. No one has yet to solve the mystery!

In addition to my series A Little Tale for Big People I have written two books which are lighthearted and educational.

What Do Teddy Bears Eat? Seven Teddies Share Their Favourite Dishes introduces children to healthy eating. Food can be fun when you are sharing with family, friends, and your favourite bears. It is also a spoof on gourmet magazines, and celebrities who use their fame as a platform to influence the public’s tastes.

The other title is Tony Turtles’ Tiny Tongue Twisters An Alphabet Book of Animal Alliterations. When children are starting to read, they stumble when they see the words “and”, “but” and “the”.  In this book there are no ifs, ands, or buts!

What will the future bring? I am now writing a story set in the Galapagos Islands. Who knows where I will go next?  Excerpts of my books can be read at https://storytellerlaurie.com