The Beginning

THE BEGINNING

I’ve always been a writer. To hear my mom tell stories, (she’s 99 and yes, she still tells stories about me) I have been telling them since I was young, and I started writing them as soon as I could write. For years I wrote poetry, hundreds of poems that took me through the darkest points of adolescence including the death of my father at 13. My writing stopped for quite a while, but stories continued to weave their way through my dreams until once again, when my daughter was 3. Toward the end of one day, I was looking out into our backyard and saw a young deer by the swings at the bottom of the big yellow tube slide. At this point, I don’t remember if it was my daughter who said it was David Deer, or if it was a voice in my head. Late into the evening, after my daughter went to sleep, the entire story exploded in my thoughts. I grabbed paper and pen and throughout the night, the poetry I had always written flowed as Play Day came to life.

INSIDER INFORMATION!

Rikki is indeed my daughter and Joshua Giraffe was her favorite Raffi song at the time. We did live at the edge of a stand of trees, and we had two cats, Dish and Mort.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

I shared my story with my mom and sister. They both said it needed to be a book, but life got in the way. The story was filed in a box when we first moved to Liberia and throughout the following years and many moves across the U.S. and the world, I would come across it again.

Periodically, my sister or mother would bring up the story and urge me to publish PLAY DAY but life would get in the way once more, another move would be on the horizon and that story would be buried once more.

Over the last 10 years, I really started to seriously think about it but finding an illustrator who could create the images that had lived in my head for so long seemed to be almost impossible.

OCTOBER 2023

Fast forward to October 2023. My mom turned 98, she put her forehead to mine and said, “You know THE BOOK” you keep saying you will publish. I am 98 and I would really like to see it while I am alive.”

That was the push I needed. I decided in that moment that I would give the first copy of my book to my mom for her 99th birthday. I spent the next few months searching once again for that elusive illustrator. I scoured Facebook groups and looked at portfolios across the web. I paid for illustrators to create the same page from the book. After some disappointing outcomes, I was sure that my goal was to remain a dream.

ELEANOR LOSEBY (The Zoo Crew’s Memory Painter)

One day, the most amazing thing happened, an illustrator in England posted that she had room for new commissions and posted a few pictures of her work. I was enchanted. Her work in watercolor and her details brought her illustrations to life. I FOUND HER! Eleanor Loseby.

We met on a video chat and, the rest as they say, is history. Each sketch she made, each rough draft, each final illustration took my breath away. (They still do!) Eleanor made the process fun. Getting sketches, and final illustrations each month was like Christmas all over again. Each was a gift. Each illustration bringing the words to life exactly as I had imagined for more than 30 years.

By September the pages were finished and Eleanor put them all together into the final manuscript. I found a printer in Minnesota (where my mom lives) and sent it off.

OCTOBER 2024

I returned to Minnesota to celebrate my mom’s 99th birthday and the evening of her small party with family and friends, I was able to hand her the first copy of The Zoo Crew – PLAY DAY! – Emily’s Sticky Situation. It was the proudest moment of my life!

TODAY

Now I can’t wait to share what has now become the first book in The Zoo Crew Adventures – PLAY DAY! – Emily’s Sticky Situation.

We would love for you to join the Zoo Crew too. Besides the book, you can find fun activities for the kids. (Send pictures!) For teachers, I also have school activities packs for 5-7 and 8–10-year-olds.

2025

Eleanor will begin creating new magic with book 2 – Henry the Horse Wore Spotted Shorts and I am working on books 3&4 The Zoo Crew – City Safari.

Stay tuned!

FINALLY

I hope you love the first adventure as much as I love sharing it. If you do, please visit us and leave a message (we love reviews from parents, teachers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors, friends….) The kids can write to their favorite characters as well.

Annette Geiger (The Zoo Crew Storyteller)
Open doors 🚪 share love ❤️ and take detours on this adventure of life!