New Children's Book About A Crow, Kawlaja, A Small Town Thief, Author and Illustrator Lorraine Strieby, On Amazon

                                                                             

    

Mayor Molly McMole sometimes writes my blog,  but  today I got ahead of her so I can write  a review.  I notice some of my fabulous followers on Facebook and Instagram are offering some Kawlaja's reviews  for which I am so grateful.

If you have had an experience meeting a crow it is an experience you will not soon forget.  They are as intelligent as a 7 - 10 year old child. They are so intelligent that sometimes they will seek out a human contact and when they bond,  the crow will bring his friend gifts.  Sometimes a rescued crow will even honor his rescuer by flying onto the rescuer's shoulder for a moment before flying off to

start a new life.  Stories abound!

I had a lifetime experience with a crow when I was about  8 years old.  On the way to school one day a crow said "hello" to me.  Yes, crows can talk, and if they do the words will be very clear.  When writing Kawlaja's story I felt I had to present him in a good light, he was a character,  but this is a children's book, free verse,  like Dr. Seuss, and this book should be read aloud, a bedtime storybook for kids. Kawlaja was a thief, how should I handle that?

In this day and age with gangs robbing department stores, mom and pop shops,  people's property,

I didn't want to go there.  My books try to teach something.  So what to do?  Kawlaja is the main character who happens to be a thief and most every storybook has an antagonist, so I waited and Huffims the Cat appeared.

These sandlot kids in First Ward who were playing softball almost every night before dark must have been a big fascination for him.  He was stealing their school's chalk during the day and they had this fun game played every late afternoon in the summer.  Remember, my generation didn't  have cell phones, or even TV's, when we were going to First Ward Elementary.  Our parents let us play outside until the streetlights came on.  They depended on our neighbors to see that we were OK.

By the way, Kawlaja stole from other schools and yes he hit WVU too.  There is an interesting

twist here and it happens to be true. 

To sum up, "Kawlaja" is a story about a small town thief that teaches a life lesson taught by a cat and a crow.

Since I am an artist, I do my own illustrations.  You can find "Kawlaja" on Amazon, by going to my website huffims.com.   Proud to have my own reading room at Amazon.

   

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