When Melva Saunders saw a lonely donkey in a field, she was inspired to write about it.
She jotted down a few notes at the time but then lost them. But she never forgot the donkey and decided a few years later to pick up the story - and share it with others.
“I thought ‘oh poor donkey,’” said Saunders, a retired printer who has lived in Cache Creek for the past 30 years.
Her efforts resulted in a self-published children’s book - The Lonely Donkey Finds a Friend - which came out in August. Sales were brisk last weekend at the Clinton Seniors’ Association Marketplace, with many people grabbing a copy of the book, which is aimed for two to five-year-olds.
The picture book, illustrated by 18-year-old Kamloops artist Danielle Korgaard, tells the tale of a lonely donkey who is seeking a friend. But every time he meets a potential pal - from a cat with a crooked tail to a rooster with a cock-‘hick’-a-doodle-do, he scares them off with his ‘hee haw’ as they figure he is laughing at them.
“Each animal has a snit and goes away,” Saunders said. “At the end, he still hasn’t got a friend.”
That all changes when a spotted pony is put in the field with him. Worried about scaring off the pony, the donkey decides to keep quiet, and give him a “great big smile instead,” Saunders said, which helps him find the friend he has been seeking.
Saunders wraps up the book with a list of donkey facts and encourages children to give her donkey a name.
“You wouldn’t believe the names, even from the adults,” she said, adding she has been pleased with the response to her first book. “I can’t believe it actually.”
Saunders is now working on another donkey story, this time about a Mexican donkey who brags too much.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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