Just wondering why you did not name the animals, but just called them “Horse” or “Snake” etc.?
We wondered if we should name them, but then we decided to follow a folk-tale tradition and just call them by their animal name. And then mash the name up at the end. Just to be silly and make the kids giggle. The big question is, did the children in your life laugh? We’d love to hear how they responded! Comment below with your experience!
The ending was so unexpected, why did you choose to have the animal get what he/she wants?
If you want a traditional story about a character being content with himself, then this is not the book for you. We like those stories! But instead of “Be happy with who you are” we chose the theme of “Working Hard Brings Results.” This is a story about perseverance. True, real life would never LITERALLY reflect the sort of ending in this book. But metaphorically it can: when we work hard at learning something or at improving our own character, we become someone new. We are the same in most ways, but a little bit different in other ways. Every time.
But besides the theme or moral of our series, our goal is to have a fun somewhat silly children’s book that makes children laugh. And the mash-up ending gets the kids to giggle. We love that sound.