Meet the author - Karen Le Grange
My first book is called “The Elephant’s Itchy Toe”. It started with a rough draft on a piece of paper with the title at the top…and nothing more. So now what? Well, I had to just let the story out. The hero of the story first started as a Shrew, a Mouse and finally I realised the ‘Go-Away Bird’ would be a perfect fit to help the Elephant. It was perfectly South African, and the noise of it’s call of “Go-Away, Go-Away”, often rings out across the African savannah.
Initially, I was adamant that the story shouldn’t rhyme – as there is nothing worse that a bad rhyme – but once again, I felt like the story was coming through me rather than me writing it. The story just wanted to rhyme – so I let it happen. I also didn’t plan to have a moral to the story, but I loved the idea, the by reading a bedtime story, both the child and the adult reading can learn something about themselves or the world around them.
When the story was finally complete, I now had another bridge to cross. Who would draw my illustrations? I didn’t know the first thing about how to illustrate a book, and I certainly didn’t have the budget to employ a great artist. So, once again – I decided to try do the drawings myself. I researched the right type and size of paper to use. What ink would be best. Where and how the characters would be placed on each page – it was truly a labour of love. Once the paint had dried, I approached many publishing houses to assist me in getting my story out there but was told that there were just too many children’s books, so they could not help.
This was a big bump in the road. 2 years after the initial idea – I decided to self-publish. I took my drawings to a local print shop to scan into a digital format and then had to learn how to manipulate the drawings into a format for printing. I found a small printing company and did an initial run of 40 books. It was very scary putting myself out there. I didn’t know if anyone would want to buy a copy, but I was so relieved when the reviews started coming back to me. The kids seemed to love the story. They loved spotting the little hidden creature throughout the book. They loved the South African flavour and of course the colourful drawings. I was so grateful!
This prompted me to print more of the first book and write my secondbook. I has a list of ideas, and I still feel as if each story is knocking at the door wanting to be set free. I have written 4 books in total so far and sold over 6000 books in total. As long as people love reading them, I will keep writing. Thank you to everyone that has loved my stories (both the young and the old) and thank you for your kind words of love and support!
My first book “The Elephant’s Itchy Toe” features a very sad elephant that can’t get rid of a terrible ‘itch’ on his toe. A little Grey Lourie (the Go-Away Bird) tells Ellie that she can he can try and help, but elephant doesn’t believe that a such a small bird could ever help someone so big. The Elephant asks for help from an array of African animals, but sadly they just can’t seem to help him out of his situation. Finally, Elephant gives up and allows the little bird to help. To his amazement, the tiny Lourie is the perfect creature to help him and learns an important lesson – that you should not overlook someone who does not fit the mould of what you assume is right. It teaches kids that they can also be a help to adults and hopefully teaches adults not to overlook their kids. No one is too small to help!
My second book is called “The Dancing Dung Beetle”. The story revolves around a little beetle named Rosie that loves dancing. She is ridiculed by the other animals, but she keeps on doing the Cha-Cha and the Rhumba on top of her dungball. The story teaches the reader that they should always dream big, do what they love and ignore the negative comments. This book is also based on scientific evidence that Dung Beetles really do dance on top of their dung balls. It was such fun writing about this little insect who is really interesting and quite miraculous.
The third book in the series is called “More than a ROAR!”. This is a story of self-acceptance. The story is about a lost Cheetah cub who is adopted by a mother Leopard. As the cheetah grows, he realises he is different from his mother and brother. He cannot climb trees; his spots and his body are different – and most embarrassingly – he cannot roar. He can only make a chirping noise. His mother helps him realise all the amazing things he can do - because of his differences. She also shows him, that no matter how different he is, that she loves him completely.
The fourth and latest book in the series is called “A monkey stole my lunchbox” which is a fun story about a troop of cheeky monkeys that have stolen snacks from some local school kids. Their reason for being so naughty is that they need food for Monkey’s Wedding Day! In reality, South African Vervet Monkeys can be quite a nuisance as they love stealing food if it’s left unattended. We often have a small giggle when driving past a coastal school in South Africa, that there are all sorts of lunchboxes left empty on the school roof after a troop has passed through. The lesson a little more fun in this story, and it’s to lock your lunchbox safe away – or bring extra just in case a troop of monkeys decides to go foraging!
