Childrens’ Bedtime Stories with Safari Animals Make the Exotic Familiar

Dec. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Pearl River, NY — Fabulous Tales has published a collection of children’s bedtime stories whose characters are baby animals of the African savanna.  Meant to make exotic animals familiar and to teach mild lessons to toddlers and very young readers, Savanna Stories by American writer Brooke Rousseau is engaging and entertaining.

The book’s basic premise is straightforward: When Nyumbu the gnu calf discovers that the herd is migrating to a new place, he is anxious that he won’t have any friends and other animals won’t like him.  This is the story of how Nyumbu makes new friends with baby elephants, giraffes, baboons and rhinos, and learns what they have in common and what makes them different. The stories are not about zoo animals but animals in their natural habitat.  The savanna itself plays a major role in the stories, from the migration of the gnus to the plains, forest, ponds, rivers and cliffs that are at once playground and sources of food and danger.

The author, Brooke Rousseau, is a mother of two young sons and has traveled extensively.  She spent three years in East Africa, mostly in Rwanda after the genocide and also in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

With regard to her motivation for writing the collection of stories, Ms. Rousseau said, “Like most people, I visited zoos as a child and saw monkeys in cages and lions in a fenced-in savanna scene, with skyscrapers in the distance.  While those brushes with the animal kingdom thrilled me, in East Africa I saw animals in their real habitats.  When I began writing for children, I imagined personalities for the various animals.  I knew American children would relate to the situations of my animal characters, situations that all children experience.”

Savanna Stories is available as downloadable pdf ebooks from the publisher’s website, www.FabulousTales.com, including a free introductory story about the Great Migration of gnus and zebras, two editions of six stories each, and the complete collection of 15 stories. All have color photo cover pages, and the complete collection includes additional color photos of animals of the savanna.

About the Author Brooke Rousseau
Brooke Rousseau started writing stories in middle school. Now a mother, a writer by night, and a French teacher in her spare time, Brooke writes to make the exotic familiar. Driven by a fascination with other cultures and lucky enough to have traveled to and lived in many different places around the world, she loves giving children a peek into the exotic. She and her sons particularly love safari animals.

Brooke knows East Africa well, having lived for 2 1/2 years in Rwanda after the genocide, and she spent time in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. She also lived in Paris, where she worked as a receptionist in a software company, honing her French-speaking skills, and she traveled extensively.

In addition to writing short stories for the youngest readers and listeners, Brooke also writes young adult novels.

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Fabulous Tales publishes short stories for children, including bedtime stories and stories for young readers. Follow Fabulous-Tales on facebook.