More stories coming later this week ...

We've not forgotten about the Blog, just lots of things happening. Look out for the little bit about the book and the next competition in this month's Writer's Forum Magazine, out now ... WHSmith or Tescos usually have a copy!

More Blogging soon ... Please review the book on Amazon if you have a copy!

Alex Cumming, Thomas Bailey, Daniel Maltz

Three of our young authors

Why write these stories? Miranda's story excerpt (Winner)

I will be posting more of the stories that didn't get into this book over the weeks, but I will post an excerpt of one of the winner's stories this afternoon to showcase just how good these are.

People might well ask why I wanted to do this, why I want animal stories and why the same theme again for the next competition. I'll tell you why.

Creative writing is a way to escape. It lets you explore other worlds through the eyes of others. And so it helps us to be less narrow-minded about the world we live in. We learn be to empathetic. And this means any story. Write as a prisoner on death row, imagine you're an African slave, you're blind ... how different the world is. And please do explore this in your writing.

But I set up Paws because I have always had a passion for animals and as a child my writing was always in the head of animals. And I identified a need for us to change our thinking about how we treat animals, more so perhaps than how we treat other humans. And because of my involvement with The Born Free Foundation I felt more than ever this competition is a great way to explore the emotional lives of animals and to raise awareness, make us ask questions about how we treat animals and what we might do to help stop some of the cruel things we do to animals.

And I am so proud of this little book.

So why do the same theme again ... because it needs to be said.
There are so so so many different animals on the planet, there are millions of stories to tell. Yes the first Wild n Free book has some familiar wild animals like lions, tigers, horses, panthers, foxes, hares, it also has some more unusual ones like Nepalese wild cars, ring-tailed lemurs, voles, zorses ... and for the next book I want to see more ... snakes, bats, birds (we need some birds!), unusual animals so we can teach people about them ... with so much to choose from we'll never run out that's for sure! And I want to learn. And you can learn researching!

So I hope you tell everyone you know about this book and the competition.

So want to read something ... okay, here goes ...

Winner of Years 5 and 6: Miranda Lee

The Panther That Called A Poacher A Friend

The panther picks out a strange smell and investigates.

He’s cautious at first as he knows poachers have been

nearby and is scared of traps. He doesn’t want to be

injured. If he can’t hunt, he can’t feed. He finds a strange

thing in the roots of an old tree. It’s shiny, smooth, harder

than rock and doesn’t move.

It’s not prey.

It’s a jewel, but he doesn’t have the human word for it

yet. He bats it with a paw.

Suddenly he feels his body changing.

His face becomes flatter, his shoulders and spine pull

upright, his back legs lengthen, his front paws develop

opposable thumbs. He shakes and his fur slides off as

if he’s shaking off water. He doesn’t feel pain, but feels

different. He is muscular and graceful in movement. Two

legs and only having faint hairs on his skin feels odd. So

do the things he can feel against his skin, like skin but

not part of his skin. Later he learns he is wearing a tee

shirt and jeans, has coal-black hair and amber eyes. His

skin is the colour of sun-bleached mud. He goes back to

his cave for shelter. He’d eaten on the day he changed so

doesn’t feel hungry. Not yet.

Later he comes across the camp of humans. One takes

pity on him and offers food. Cooked meat still tastes

like meat, but he avoids the green stuff the humans eat

as well. The human talks to him but he doesn’t really

listen as he’s distracted by the smell. This human smells

like the poacher. He thinks this human is the poacher so

asks about hunting. The poacher tells him they hunt to

eat and kill other predators because they kill the animals

they keep for food. He thinks about this. He only kills

to eat...   

You have to buy the book to see how the story ends!

About the author

Miranda Lee started watching Big Cat Diary when she was
nine months old because Mum was bored of looking at a
cat picture book and started flicking through TV channels.
Miranda has adopted big cats, including a lioness through
Born Free. A daughter of two poets, she wants to be an
inventor when she grows up, but might consider being a
writer as well because writers invent stories. Miranda lives in
Leicester with her mum and cat, Honey, and goes to Fernvale
Primary School.

The Poacher that called a Panther a Friend is dedicated to

Dad, who passed away last year.

Miranda's artwork:

Buy it on Amazon as a paper book: LINK

For Kindle ... LINK 2

And remember you can help real animals as the royalties go to The Born Free Foundation

We need more followers so do share this BLOG!!!

Debz :)

Excerpts n stuff

Over the weekend I'll be posting some excerpts of the winning stories and then some of the others by children that didn't get into the book but are fun  - next week ...

A picture by one of the authors who's pics are dotted throughout the book, Charlotte Ash, she was also runner-up in the Years 5 and 6 category.

Humbled

What a lovely day I had at the Hay Festival yesterday, even in the rain.
In the morning I saw Francis Ashcroft lecturing about physiology and her new book called The Spark of Life, it was a biology lesson and since I have worked in science for most of my life before being a full time writer it was fab.

I'd seen Kate Humble from BBC Springwatch standing by the gates just inside Hay in the morning and was dying to tell her all about Wild n Free but it didn't seem like the right moment. I had tickets for her afternoon talk anyway. Then later I saw she was supposed to be in the Telegraph hut they have there but again there were so many people. So I contented myself thinking I would not get the chance as there would be so many people at her talk and I didn't want to line up for ages to get a book signed.

Well then we had what they call a touch of serendipity. I was finishing my White Chocolate Mocha (yum by the way! And in capitals because I mean it was yum!) when I overheard someone saying she was at the RSPB stand. Hmm me thought. So off I went and there she was. So I waited for her to be free and then talked to her about the book, even gave her my thumbed through copy as I had no spares on me, and ... and this is the best bit, I asked her how she would feel about being one of the final judges next year, and knock me over with a buzzard primary feather ... she said yes!

So I am now delighted to announce ... and you heard it here first ... the final judges for the next Paws Animal Writing Competition are ....

Daniel Blythe ...  WEBSITE

Gill Lewis ... WEBSITE

And Kate Humble ... WEBSITE

The next competition opens on September 17th ... sign up for the newsletter on the Paws Website so you don't miss out!  Paws website: NEWSLETTER

This is a fab book by the way!

All things wild n wonderful ...

I have been talking to people about the Wild n Free book at the Hay Festival this week! I don't mean I was a guest with my own event (not this this time) but I handed out my postcards and talked to children about the next competition. I also went to Daniel Blythe's event who writes for Dr.Who and has a new book out called Shadow Runners, with the big children's publisher Chicken House ... so children do check it out.

And the good news is he is one of the judges next year in the next Paws Competition!

Take a look: LINK

It's all good... more drawings later in the week!

Martin Meerkat by Sadia Nowshin

Although Sadia's story was not selected for the Wild n Free book, it still has a very important message about animals belonging the wild... enjoy

Martin Meerkat





by Sadia Nowshin (aged 13)

Martin looked sadly at the stalk of the berry he had been meaning to eat. Looking back at Mark and the rest of the meerkat bullies, he sighed, this is always going to happen if you don‟t learn to stand up for yourself, Martin! he thought to himself. Once again, Martin had had his snack cruelly snatched away from him. Sighing again, Martin went back to his home.
         “Hello Martin!” Uncle Mick said cheerfully as he entered the house. Martin simply nodded in reply. He was still a bit upset over his stolen berry.
         “Was it that menace Mark again? “ Martin's mum asked softly. 
           Martin sadly nodded. Uncle Mick got up to his feet, and Martin knew what was coming.
          “You know, if your dad was here, he'd give that Mark a good pounding! Monty was't afraid of anything, not even the starving coyotes! Have I ever told you about the time when...”
          “Yes, yes, the time when Dad fended off a hound of coyotes armed only with a twig. You‟ve told me a million times,” Marin said. He couldn't help being a bit snappy, it was just that Uncle Mick was always going on about his dad. Martin dad, Monty Meerkat, had walked out to find a source of water when there was a drought where he lived. But then, he'd never been seen again. Martin had only been a pup, but his uncle Mick was always telling him stories about the heroic antics of his dad. One of the reasons that Mark bullied Martin was because of the fact that Martin was nowhere as adventurous as his dad had been. Martin hated it when people compared him to his dad, especially as he'd never even met him properly.
         “Well, I'm off to bed then. Night,” Martin said to his mum and his uncle, before climbing into his bedroom. As he lay on his bed of dead leaves, Martin wondered what his father would be like in person. Would he be funny and kind, or would he be snappy and dry? And the big question, what would he think of Martin? With his head filled with thoughts of his long-lost dad, Martin drifted into sleep.


A month later, and Martin was off to the watering hole to collect water. The watering hole was on the edge of his territory, and no-one had ever gone beyond that watering hole. Except for his dad. Standing in line, waiting for his turn to fill up, Martin daydreamed. Suddenly, the people in front of him started to mutter excitedly. Martin wondered what was going on. Out of nowhere, a strange buzz had started in the watering hole. Straining his neck, Martin realised that there was no way he could see what was happening, there were far too many adults in front of him, all of them blocking his view. Frustrated, Martin tried to listen intently instead, but there were too many people talking at once. Finally giving up, he tapped the meerkat in front of him.
        “What‟s going on?” Martin asked him.
         “He's back! Monty‟s back!” the adult told him, clearly very excited.
          Shocked, Martin didn't react. His dad was back? 
          Suddenly, his day-dreamed fantasies seemed very real. Hoping nobody would notice him, he started to creep away very slowly and very quietly. He was out of luck.
         “HEY, MONTY‟S BOY IS HERE TOO! GET OVER THERE KID!” someone shouted from the top of a tree. Martin froze and grimaced to himself. This was NOT how he had wanted to meet his dad! Standing up straight, he turned to face the watering hole again.
        “Hey, Son.” A deep, gruff voice came from the very front of the watering hole. Slowly, Martin walked towards his dad. He still couldn‟t see him, but gradually, the crowd parted. A young-ish, handsome, muscly, tanned meerkat stood facing him.
        “Hi Dad,” Martin said. And every animal standing near the watering hole applauded and cheered.


Back at home, Monty was explaining to his family how he'd travelled to a foreign place, named  "The Zoo". He said it was horrific, all these poor, defenceless animals cooped up in cages, with strange beings called "hoo-muns" shouting and staring at them all day, every day. Monty then explained that he had nearly been captured by a hoo-mun, and so he'd fled. And eventually, he'd ended up here, back home.
       As Monty finished his story, Martin's mum and Uncle Mick had tears in their eyes.
      Then Monty turned to his son.“Martin, you must think I'm terrible, leaving your mother alone to bring you up, and then turning up suddenly. I'm sorry, and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me and accept me again as your father.
       Martin then looked into the brown eyes of his father, smiled, and then hugged him.
      Martin bonded beautifully with his father, and they always went on little adventures. Mark and the rest of the bullies respected Martin now, and stayed well away from him, as they were afraid he'd tell his dad to beat them up. So, in the end, Martin's fantasies about his father turned into reality, and the gap in Martin's perfect family was filled.




About our young author
Sadia spends most her time listening to music, screaming whenever One Direction is mentioned, and tending to her imaginary chickens, Betty and Hooper. 

Having something to say...

I met with Lauren St. John, well known writer, and one of the judges from the Wild n Free book at her event at the Hay on Wye Literary Festival yesterday, albeit rather quickly at the end of her event to pass over her copy of the book. But what was great was the way she talked at the event about her life as a writer and growing up in Africa.

It was her experiences with wild animals that really cemented her life-long love of them and the successful career she has carved out as a writer, who's love for all things wild comes across so well in all her books. If you've not ready any of her books I recommend that you take a look at her collection ... SOME OF HER BOOKS

Lauren is now an ambassador for The Born Free Foundation and she was invited recently to Turkey with Helen Worth (who play Gail) from Coronation Street and Virginia McKenna to complete the final stage in the release of 2 wild dolphins that had been rescued from a terrible dolphinarium 18 months before and it had taken all of that time to to make them well enough.

She hilighted some important issues about places like that and places like Sea World that offer real encounters with dolphins and the chance to swim with them. If you can't swim with them properly in the wild, not part of some business you pay for, then she urges: DON'T.

When these beautiful creatures were released, I had tears in my eyes when Lauren talked about, how after all those years in captivity, 8 years or more, as soon as those dolphins were free they headed the many miles back home. I knew where home was, where their families were and they were tracked going to that very place.
This really hilights an important issue, animals don't forget. Nor to they belong in captivity. They should be FREE.

Lauren also talked about animals in zoos and wildlife parks and how these animals often have a miserable existance. Even if you think a zoo is a 'better zoo' the animals are still not free and they are there for no other reason than for you and I to see them. No thanks. I'd rather live my whole life and NEVER see a tiger up close than see one behind bars.

As Lauren points out, with humans we incarcerate the very worst people in society, yet we do it without thinking to animals.

Her point on animals in 'better' zoos was something I also heard Virginia McKenna say 2 years ago at Hay. She said imagine if you were taken away from your family and your freedom was taken. Even if they put you in a luxury hotel with everything you could ever want (and for zoo animals that is not the case) but you could never leave; they controlled what you eat, when you eat it, even who you have a baby with ... how can that possibly compare to being free?
I ask you to ponder that point.
Animals belong in the wild and this book of ours really shows that by exploring the emotional lives of wild animals. The children got that. And I am so proud.

I hope what Lauren said makes those children think. In fact as she talked about those dolphins after a spray of raised hands of children who said they wanted to swim with dolphins, a dawning realisation that perhaps they didn't unless they were really wild dolphins. And when she said that dolphins in places like Sea World only perform because they're drugged or starved and do it to be fed ... I saw their young faces change.

We would all do well to think again.

Drawing by the author of the story Spirit and the cover artist of the Wild n Free Book

Wolf Art

by Alex Cumming

by Charlotte Ash

by Neelai Patel

by Hannah Probyn-Duncan

A Bee's Tale

The first of the stories that did not get into the book but you can still read it here! So did you guess right about it being a bee?

A Bee’s Tale By Chloe Smith 

 “What about here?”
 It was only lunch time, and already there was huge chaos exploding around him. A picnic. Honestly, couldn’t he pollinate at least one flower before the humans poked their noses in? It was quite a small family picnic, only a grown-up and a little girl. But that was enough. They had to set up their picnic right next to him too, didn’t they? They knew he couldn’t resist those things they call cheese sandwiches. He had to fly out of here, and fast. Before... 


“BEE! MOMMY IT’S A BEE! GET IT AWAY!” the girl suddenly started shrieking; pointing her podgy fingers in his direction. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH! MOMMY HELP! ITS GOING TO STING ME!” 


 Why would he sting her? He wouldn’t waste his only sting on a little girl! It was a self-defence mechanism! AND he would die if he used it! Honestly! But the little girl still wouldn’t realise that, and carried on screaming. 


 “MOOOOOOOOOMMY! IT’S GOING TO STING ME! HEEEELP! MOMMYYY!” 


 It had obviously slipped the girl's mind that for him to sting her, he had to be close to her, he had to have landed on her, in fact. Which he had no intention of doing after she screamed at him like that. 


 “Okay sweetie, it’s okay, Mommy will get rid of it. Hush now.” The grown-up cradled the girl in her arms, trying to sooth her screams. 


 He decided it was time to go, before the grown-up got any closer. He rose into the sky, his small wings beating faster and faster until the still screaming girl and her grown-up where far below him. He sighed. When would people realise that he wouldn’t hurt them unless they were a threat to him? Just because he had a sting, doesn’t mean he will use it at any given opportunity! It’s like one of those humans, if they had a water pistol, would they fire it at everyone? Wait... Best not answer that. 


 His point was, he thought, as he flew higher and higher, in search of a few more flowers, that just because he had something that could hurt people, he wasn’t a automatic evil-doer, and that people jump to conclusions far too much these days. Far too many a bee had died because a few humans had been scared of them. He wished he could tell people about this, and explain to the humans. But how could he? He was only a bee, after all. 


 And he really, really, didn’t want to get hit with a rolled up papery thing with words on. He sighed. Humans will just never understand us bees. “I guess that’s just always how it’s going to bee… Get it? Bee? Be?” he buzzed aloud. He chuckled at his own joke, as a cricket below him started chirping, emphasising the silence. “Alright! Alright!” he buzzed in annoyance. Smiling slightly, he buzzed a happy tune as he flew off, spotting the perfect flower nearby. Maybe one day they will learn to like him. But until then he would just have to keep away from picnics! 


 Author Bio: Chloe is a teenager who you can usually find on wheels (as unfortunately hover wheelchairs haven't been invented yet) around various places, although she lives in England. She has loads of pets! Though most notably she has 3 cats, a labrador and a tank full of fish. She likes animals because they never criticise her writing. She also likes writing. (Though it's not that good). You can find her on her blog, were she writes about books (and generally rambles,) here: http://writer-on-wheels.blogspot.co.uk/ She thinks it'd be cool if you'd say hi, and she won't bite (Though unfortunately she can't promise). You can usually find her reading, writing or travelling space and time with a madman with a box.

Art Gallery

Well it's been a busy weekend with the launch of this special book and we had a virtual party on Facebook last night! Great fun! I wanted to share some of the pictures from the book, as these are in grayscale in the book and they really deserve to be in colour ... before I do I will be posting a story on tomorrow's Blog by one of the young writers who didn't get in the book this time but will be trying again she tells me ... clue to the animal she wrote about ... you'll be buzzing by the time you've read it ... Until then enjoy the gallery ... Emily Wootton Fleur

Miranda Lee Panther

Charlotte Ash Horse

Marged Enlli Shakespear Huws Turtle

Hannah Probyn-Duncan Dolphin

It's LAUNCH DAY! Wild n Free is officially launched and you are invited to the Facebook Party tonight between 6.30 and 7 to say hi: Here's the link! LAUNCH PARTY! To get us going I am going to post some of the drawings from the book in a special launch gallery throughout the day tomorrow and the first of the stories that didn't get into the book but still deserves to be read will be posted here, SUNDAY! Who will be first ... hmmm .... So watch out it's all happening. I will be at the Hay Festival next week so will Blog updates from there! The first of the drawings coming up ... The Wild n Free Gallery 'Tiger' by Charlotte Ash

'Leopard' by Morgan Joy Ashby

'Zorse' by Jessica Cooper