For the first five episodes click here 🙂
Episode six continues:
continues tomorrow 🙂
*****************************
vegan children’s story, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, veggie kids, vegan children, vegetarian, animals, badgers, vegan, illustration, comic, children’s comic, children’s story, London, Westminster, Natural England
For the first five episodes click here 🙂
Episode six continues:
continues tomorrow 🙂
********************************
vegan children’s story, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, veggie kids, vegan children, vegetarian, animals, badgers, vegan, illustration, comic, children’s comic, children’s story, London, Westminster, Natural England
For the first five episodes click here 🙂
click to enlarge
continues tomorrow 🙂
*******************************
vegan children’s story, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, veggie kids, vegan children, vegetarian, animals, badgers, vegan, illustration, comic, children’s comic, children’s story
For the first seven chapters click here 🙂
Chapter 8 continues:
***************************
“Explain. How is this the only waste you personally made this week?”
Luke explained.
“I told my mum not to buy the vegetables an’ fruit in plastic bags an’ nets an’ trays ’cause we don’t need ’em, we just throw ’em away as soon as we get home. So I jus’ put it all loose in the trolley; I laid it on top of a soft bag so it dint get bruises, and then I put it in our own bags when we paid for it.”
The fact that the bags to which he referred were actually pillowcases was an irrelevant detail unnecessary to divulge.
“Ok, good, loose fruit and veg – no need for packaging. What else?”
“I told Mum to get the loose lentils and raisins that you can weigh, instead of the ones in packets, and we put it in our bags we took with us what we can re-use.”
He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge receipt of this information.
“Go on,” she urged.
“I told Mum to get me the porridge oats what comes in jus’ a paper bag instead of cereal what’s in boxes and plastic bags. An’ we got flour an’ sugar in paper bags an’ bread in paper bags instead of plastic; an’ peanut butter in a glass jar with a metal lid; an’ vinegar an’ ketchup an’ apple juice an’ sunflower oil in glass bottles with metal lids – but we ‘aven’t finished all of ’em so I on’y brought the juice bottle today – an’ two tins of beans. That’s everythin’ I ate an’ I made my Mum choose glass an’ tins because they can be recycled over an’ over forever an’ ever, back into bottles an’ food tins, but plastic is bad an’ can on’y be cycled to things like plastic bricks an’ stuff that can’t be recycled in the end.”
Mrs Tebbut was lost for words. He had read the printouts. He had done the work. Impressively. She looked at the three paper bags, one glass bottle and two baked beans tins and was amazed at how simple it could actually be.
“Well done Luke,” she said, “very well done indeed.”
At the end of the day when everyone else was going to get their coats, Mrs Tebbut called Luke to her desk.
“Good work today Luke,” she said, “is this something you’ve been concerned about for a while? I mean before we started our project?”
Luke was unused to his teacher’s friendly voice being directed at him but he saw no harm in indulging her.
“Yeah. Since I saw Spiker caught in the plastic rings an’ all the litter what hurts the animals. An’ since so many people are jus’ stupid to keep droppin’ the litter I thought the best thing to do is to make shops stop sellin’ it, then there’d be nothin’ to drop, ‘cept maybe paper bags but that won’t hurt no one and it won’t last long. So I’m teachin’ my Mum not to buy things with plastic.”
“Well, Luke, that’s wonderful, I’m very impre….”
“An’ I’m makin’ new things out of old things as well,” being impressive was new to Luke – he couldn’t stop now, “so I’m recyclin’ ’em myself and I’m reducin’ the buyin’ of new things ’cause of fixin’ things and makin’ new ones out of old ones.”
Mrs Tebbut smiled.
“Really? What are you making?”
“At the moment,” he said proudly, “I’m knittin’ a blanket for my pet lamb to keep ‘im warm on chilly nights.”
“Wonderful! And are you using recycled yarn from an unravelled jumper?”
“Kind of, but no, not yarn. Strips of material.”
She looked confused so he tried to explain.
“I got the idea from me Nan’s magazine ’bout makin’ rag rugs by cuttin’ old material into strips an’ knottin’ ’em together to make long long strings of it an’ then knittin’ with it. It’ll make a thick, soft blanket for Squirt to sleep on.”
“Fantastic! What material are you using? What are you cutting up?”
Luke was glad she asked because he’d put a lot of thought into that decision. He answered with the quiet confidence of a wise person enlightening a complete beginner.
“I decided the warmest stuff would be what blankets are made of and I found two big blankets in the airing cupboard what nobody was usin’ so I used ’em. I’m nearly finished now.”
Mrs Tebbut smiled again.
“You’ve got a good heart Luke,” she said, “off you go. Have a nice weekend, I’ll see you Monday.”
Luke, almost overwhelmed by the unfamiliar sensation of being approved of, went to get his coat.
Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er (£4) – the first eight chapters; and Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er: my privut notebook (£2.75) – every member of Luke’s secret sersiety of animal stick up for-ers should have one; are available from Amazon 🙂
*********************************
vegan, vegetarian, environment, recycling, children’s story, children’s book, vegan children’s story, vegan children’s book, humour, animals, children, sheep, lambs
For the first seven chapters click here 🙂
Chapter 8 continues:
***************************
At Besco’s Luke watched her closely with his project in mind. To Mum it seemed like every time she reached for something he said,
“No! Not that. Get this one!”
She found it very trying but at the same time was impressed with her son’s commitment to the project and didn’t want to curb his enthusiasm for anything school-related. She bit her tongue and cooperated with most his suggestions.
At the checkout, when the lady asked if she’d like any bags, Luke spoke out before she could answer in the affirmative.
“No thanks. It’s very bad to get plastic bags. They make pollution. You should ban ’em.” Then he put his pile of pillowcases onto the end of the checkout and started filling one with loose vegetables. Mum flashed the checkout lady an embarrassed smile and said,
“School project.”
When the day came for the presentations to the class, Luke, because his surname began with W, was one of the last to present. His peers were getting restless. They had already sat through twenty seven similar presentations in which they were shown similar empty packets, cartons and bottles being thrown out that week by each family. Those to be recycled included cereal boxes with their internal plastic bags, plastic milk bottles, plastic ketchup bottles, plastic shampoo bottles, Tetra Paks, glass wine bottles, beer bottles, plastic pop bottles, drink cans, food tins and the like. Those to go to landfill included toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, brillo pads, polystyrene food trays, plastic straws and crisp packets. Mrs Tebbut herself was having trouble staying awake at this stage and decided that next year she would get the class to work on a single collective presentation for a school assembly.
Luke waited for Susan Vickers to take her family’s waste off the presentation table and then he walked to the front and stood awkwardly facing his class.
“Ok Luke, how have you reduced waste in your household this week?” asked Mrs Tebbut.
Luke reached into his bag and put onto the table three paper bags, one glass 1 litre bottle and two empty baked beans tins. He looked at the class and spoke loudly to conceal his nervousness.
“This is my waste for this week. The yellow and blue paper bag what had oats in will be recycled; the brown paper bread bags will go on the compost; the bottle and the baked beans tins will be recycled.”
Relieved that it was over he waited for Mrs Tebbut to tell him to stand down. She didn’t.
“That can’t be all,” she said, “I told you to show the class how much waste your household had produced and how you’d helped to reduce it.”
“I did.”
“This is all your family’s waste for a whole week?”
“This is the reduced waste what I made ’em reduce. I don’t think it’s fair to include the things I told ’em not to buy. They’re not my fault.”
“Luke, that wasn’t the project. You’ve misunderstood.”
“I’ve done it fair. It’s not fair to say I dint do well makin’ my family’s waste smaller if my family won’t do what I tell ’em. It’s on’y fair to see what waste was made from choices I made ’em make.”
Mrs Tebbut couldn’t argue with that.
*****************
story concludes tomorrow 🙂
********************
vegan, vegetarian, environment, recycling, children’s story, children’s book, vegan children’s story, vegan children’s book, humour, animals, children, sheep, lambs
For the first seven chapters click here 🙂
Chapter 8 continues:
***************************
Mrs Tebbut continued.
“Now can anybody think of ways in which we could reduce our waste in the first place?”
Several hands shot up.
“Yes, Andrew.”
“Draw on both sides of the paper.”
“Very good. Yes, Katia.”
“Stick a note on your door that says ‘no junk mail’.”
“Good thinking. Yes, Simon.”
“Get your shoes re-soled instead of buying new ones.”
“Ooh, yes, well done Simon. Repair things instead of throwing them out. Good one. Ok, well done, you’re all thinking now. What about the choices we make when we buy things like food. We have to buy food, but how can we reduce waste before we even get it home?”
The class went quiet again. Everyone was thinking but they weren’t quite sure what she was after.
“I’m thinking packaging here,” she explained, “we eat the food but we throw away the packaging. How can we reduce that waste?”
“Buy food with recyclable packaging!” Butler shouted out.
“Yes, if we must, but what would be even better?”
Joe’s eyes suddenly lit up and he opened his mouth as if to speak but didn’t. Mrs Tebbut noticed.
“Joe? Did you want to say something?”
“Buy stuff without packaging,” he said quietly.
There were a few snickers.
“How ya gonna do that? Everything comes in packets!” someone scoffed.
Joe went red and looked down at his hands. Mrs Tebbut frowned.
“Quiet! Pay attention to Joe, he’s got the right idea!” She turned to Joe, “well done, that’s exactly what I was looking for. We need to avoid the waste coming into our homes in the first place by choosing things with the least amount of packaging, and even no packaging when possible. Kenny – see me at the end of class!”
Mrs Tebbut went on to explain their class project: a week on Friday they would all make a presentation to the class in which they would explain how they had reduced waste in their household. As visual aids they were to bring with them everything being thrown away in their house that week (after it had been cleaned if necessary) and tell the class where that rubbish was headed: recycling or landfill. She gave them printouts which told them all about recycling.
********
After tea on shopping night, Luke was rummaging through the kitchen drawers.
“Come on Luke if you want to come, I want to get this over with,” said Mum.
She hated shopping.
“I’m coming …” said Luke, but didn’t.
“What are you looking for?” asked Mum.
“The shopping bags. I thought they were in here.”
“So did I. Oh, I don’t know. I think I put them in the wash. I don’t know where they are now. Never mind, just leave it. Let’s go!”
“Hang on!” said Luke and he rushed upstairs.
Mum picked up the car keys and headed for the door.
“If you don’t come now Luke, I’m going without you!” And she went outside.
Just before she released the handbrake Luke opened the passenger door and climbed in.
“What are you doing with those?” Mum asked with alarm as she looked at a large crumpled pile of flower-print and cartoon superhero pillowcases on his lap.
“Bags,” he said, “we need reusable bags.”
Mum inhaled deeply, checked the mirror and reversed out of the drive.
*****************
continues tomorrow 🙂
*****************
vegan, vegetarian, environment, recycling, children’s story, children’s book, vegan children’s story, vegan children’s book, humour, animals, children, sheep, lambs
Chapter Eight:
Luke Walker and the recycling
*****
“Ha ha ha ha,” Luke laughed, “stop it! I’m nearly finished! Let me finish!”
Luke was sitting on the straw in Curly’s shed, trying to knit a blanket for Squirt.
Curly had given birth to Little Squirt a few days after she arrived at her new home and he was the most playful, affectionate little chap Luke had ever met. Curly hadn’t let Luke come near him at first but after a while she let Squirt go to him.
“Hey! I nearly dropped another stitch! Ok, that’s it! I’m putting it away. I’ll have to finish it at home.”
Luke preferred to do his knitting in the shed on his plot because at home Jared teased him for it. He had laughed when Luke first asked Nan to teach him.
“Knitting? That’s what girls do! You wish you were a girl don’t you Luke?”
“It’s jus’ like makin’ knots at Scouts Jared! Don’t you make knots at Scouts?”
“Yeah – knots are useful, for camping and sailing and stuff boys do.”
“And knittin’ is turnin’ string into material to make blankets or mats or clothes or tents or anythin’!”
He believed an outlaw should have the skills to make his own things and be self-sufficient. Knitting was a useful skill. Nan had been very happy to teach him.
Luke put the half-made blanket back in his bag and played with Squirt until it was time to go home for tea. He had to be home promptly today because it was Mum’s shopping night and he needed to go with her for his school project.
****
This half term’s topic was The Environment and Mrs Tebbut had started by talking to them about rubbish, waste and plastic pollution. This was of great interest to Luke.
On the board she wrote:
Reduce, Re-use, Recycle
“This week we are going to think about how we can reduce waste by the simple choices we make in our lives,” she began. “Although the amount of rubbish being recycled in this country has increased in recent years, the amount being sent to landfill is also on the increase. In England, we only recycle about 44% of household waste when in fact 80% of it is recyclable. This means we all need to try a little bit harder.”
“Or a lot harder,” Luke mouthed to Joe.
“So today I’m going to tell you about The Three Rs: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. Have any of you heard of this before?”
Lots of blank faces and shaking of heads.
“Ok, well the idea is that, although recycling is very important, we should first try to reduce the amount of stuff we buy in the first place by holding on to the stuff we’ve already got for as long as possible – taking care of it and getting it repaired instead of throwing it away.
“Then, once we have really worn out our stuff and it can’t be repaired anymore, before we throw it out for recycling we should try to think of ways to reuse it. Old clothes, for example, could be turned into cleaning rags.
“And finally, when we can no longer find a use for something, we should recycle it.”
“Interesting,” thought Luke.
******************
continues tomorrow 🙂
*************************
vegan, vegetarian, environment, recycling, children’s story, children’s book, vegan children’s story, vegan children’s book, humour, animals, children, sheep, lambs
Chapter 7 continues (For the first 6 chapters click here 🙂 )
*************************
“…. She belongs to ‘erself. I think she should be allowed to keep belongin’ to ‘erself, don’t you?” He looked at Joe earnestly.
Joe looked back, wide eyed.
“Yeah, I do.”
Luke smiled, Joe was with him. But now he really had to think. Where would the sheep be safe? If they just left her to wander, someone else was bound to discover her and return her to the farm. No, he couldn’t let that happen. He had to get her to a place of safety where the farmer wouldn’t find her. Joe gently stroked the sheep’s forehead. Luke was thinking hard. There had to be a way. There was always a way if you thought hard enough. And then it came to him.
“I’ve got it!” said Luke, “I know how we can save her!”
“What? What will we do?” asked Joe eagerly.
“You wait here with her,” Luke instructed, “keep ‘er here, out of sight. I’ve got to go somewhere and I’ll be back quick as I can.”
“Where are you going?” asked Joe, a little nervous about having sole custody of the refugee.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be quick,” Luke assured him as he turned to run back along the lane towards the village.
Joe continued to stroke the sheep, telling her softly that it would be ok, that Luke had thought of something and he wouldn’t let her down. Obviously comforted by this, she resumed munching the grass.
It started to rain. Just a few drops at first and then it settled in to a steady drizzle.
“Hurry up,” thought Joe as he became gradually wetter.
The sheep didn’t seem to mind. Eventually, after almost an hour by Joe’s reckoning (seventeen and a half minutes), Luke returned. He was smiling and had with him a piece of rope.
“Where ‘ave you been? What are we gonna do?” Joe asked as Luke tied the rope carefully around the sheep’s neck so that he could lead her.
“I’ve got a place where we can take ‘er,” Luke told him, “come on.”
The rain ensured their independence by keeping other people indoors. They walked back half way along the lane until they came to the back entrance of the allotments. Luke opened the gate with a key and they went in. He led his old friend and his new friend past many well-kept plots full of rows of cabbages and turnips and carrots and leeks and all sorts of plants that Luke didn’t recognise. The sheep was keen to try a few.
“No! Stop ‘er!” Luke half-shouted as she bent her head to some turnip tops.
Joe stopped her just in time and the boys quickened their pace. After a while the plots began to look a little untidy and, the further they walked, the more unkempt they became. They stopped alongside Luke’s dad’s plot which was one of the unkempt because he hadn’t had it very long.
“Here we are!” said Luke happily to the sheep, “welcome to your new home Curly.”
“Really?” said Joe.
“Yeah!” said Luke, “I think it suits her.” Joe shook his head.
“Not the name, the place! Won’t your dad go mad?”
“Why would he?” Luke asked, a little irritated that Joe was being so negative.
Then Luke realised that from where he was standing, Joe couldn’t see what he and Curly could see.
“No, not here,” he said, “there!”
And he pointed to something behind his dad’s ramshackle shed.
Joe stepped forward to look. The plot behind Luke’s dad’s plot had been abandoned some time ago and was quite overgrown. The former tenant had erected post and rail fencing all around it so that she could keep her Shetland pony there. And there was a big shed that she’d used as a stable. Luke beamed.
“This is my plot!”
Joe’s jaw dropped.
“But how? …. When?”
“That’s where I went. To the ‘lotment committee man’s house. To rent this ‘lotment.”
“But how … I mean, don’t that cost loadsa money?”
Joe knew the answer to his question almost before he’d finished asking it. Luke was so happy as he led Curly to her new home.
“Won’t ‘ave time for bike rides now anyway,” he said.
**********************
The first eight chapters of Luke’s adventures sticking up for animals – only £4! Click the pic!
*********************************
vegan children’s story, children’s book, books, children, animals, sheep
Chapter 7 continues (For the first 6 chapters click here 🙂 )
*******************
The lane was quiet, the boys were quieter, until Luke noticed something. As they approached the stile that led to the meadow that was crossed by the stream that was bridged by the bridge on which the boys had planned to play Pooh sticks, Luke saw a sheep.
The sheep was munching the long grass in front of the field gate next to the stile. There were no sheep in the meadow at that time but Luke knew that sometimes there were. He could only assume that this sheep had got separated from the rest when they were being moved to another field.
“A lost sheep!” said Joe when he looked up.
“Yeah,” said Luke, their discord forgotten. They approached her slowly so as not to startle her.
“What should we do?” whispered Joe.
“I don’t know,” said Luke.
“I bet it belongs to Manor Farm,” Joe guessed, “I know they’ve got sheep.”
Luke was deep in thought.
“Maybe,” he said after a while, “but we can’t really be sure.”
“We should prob’ly go and tell the farmer at Manor Farm, then he could come and see it. I think he’d know if it was one of his.”
Luke took his water bottle out of his lunch box.
“Maybe,” he said again as he tipped what was left in the bottle onto the mud, “but then again, he’s prob’ly got hundreds of sheep and they prob’ly all look the same to ‘im.”
He rubbed his hand in the wet mud and then wiped it gently over the red dye mark on the sheep’s back.
“And it would be wrong to hand ‘er over to the wrong person.”
“Why are you doin’ that?” asked Joe.
“Jus’ coolin’ ‘er down. Wet mud really cools ’em down,” Luke explained, “don’t want ‘er to be hot an’ bothered.”
Since it was March, Joe was unconvinced by this explanation. His friend was clearly up to something and he had a good idea what it might be.
“You can’t keep it Luke,” he said firmly, “it don’t belong to you.”
“An’ who does she belong to? We don’t ezzactly know do we?”
“That mark you just covered …”
“What mark? I can’t see no mark! Can you?”
“Not now, no.”
“No. There’s on’y one thing we do know.”
“What’s that?”
“That whoever she does belong to wants to kill ‘er! Do you want to give ‘er to someone who will kill ‘er? Would you do that Joe? Would you?”
Luke was trying to keep it to a whisper so as not to frighten the sheep, but his hushed tones were still fierce.
“Well, you don’t actually know that,” Joe said cautiously.
“Don’t I? Why do farmers keep animals? Is it ’cause they love ’em? Is it ’cause they want to play with ’em and cuddle ’em?”
Joe shook his head.
“No,” Luke agreed, “they keep ’em to make money out of ’em, and they make money out of ’em by sellin’ ’em for meat.”
Joe couldn’t argue with that. He nodded.
“So what can we do?” he asked.
Luke continued.
“Here is a brave sheep who has prob’ly bin hidin’ from the farmer for days or weeks. And he prob’ly hasn’t even noticed she’s missin’; or he has noticed but he’s given up lookin’ for ‘er. So she’s free. She belongs to ‘erself. I think she should be allowed to keep belongin’ to ‘erself, don’t you?” He looked at Joe earnestly.
************************
continues tomorrow 🙂
*********************************
vegan children’s story, children’s book, books, children
For the story so far, click here 🙂
to be continued ….
********************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
********************************
Regardless, Venus met the rest of the gang at 3pm as planned:
to be continued ….
********************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
****************
As Venus climbed out of the tank her first thought was to share what she’d found with Adi and Jean and tell them her plan. Her subsequent thoughts were not so pleasant.
Ten minutes later:
to be continued ……
******************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
***
Finally, behind the model shipwreck, concealed from onlookers, she found it.
to be continued ………..
*************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
to be continued ……..
******************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
She named everyone she met and, as per Venus’s plan, noted the names and locations of everyone from this part of the world.
to be continued ……..
******************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far click here 🙂
click to enlarge
click to enlarge
to be continued … 🙂
****************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story, vegan children’s story
For the story so far click here 🙂
to be continued … 😀
****************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
So, 87 minutes later …
to be continued ….
***************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story
For the story so far click here 🙂
to be continued …. 🙂
**********************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story
For the story so far click here 🙂
to be continued …
*********************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour, adventure, children’s adventure story
For the story so far, click here 🙂
to be continued …
**************************************
😉
*******************************************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour
For the story so far click here 🙂
“Ok, well,” Carolyn smiled, “while we’re up here I want to show you the top of the tank where the divers, and the fish, go in.”
Venus could see and hear William’s distress. She could only imagine the misery he went through every time he was transported from Scotland to the south coast and back again. But she couldn’t help him. Carolyn was soon ushering them on.
When the fish container was pulled out of the lift, Carolyn, Katie and Venus descended to the viewing gallery:
to be continued ….
*****************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour
For the story so far, click here 🙂
to be continued …
**************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour
For the story so far click here 🙂
to be continued …
*************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans, art, comics, juvenile fiction, watercolour
For the story so far, click here 🙂
to be continued …. 🙂
**********************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
For the story so far click here 🙂
…. continues tomorrow 🙂
**************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
For the story so far, click here 🙂
… continues tomorrow 😉
*******************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
For the story so far, click here 🙂
… continues tomorrow 🙂
******************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
…. to be continued
**************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
…. to be continued 🙂
*******************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
…. to be continued
************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
….. to be continued
**********************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
and so it begins 😉
***************************************
vegan, vegetarian, vegan comic, vegan comic for children, children’s story, vegan children, aquariums, animals, animals in captivity, animals for entertainment, marine animals, fish, crustaceans
Luke Walker and the new shoes
Luke was having a stressful day.
“It’s not fair!” he thought, “I don’t want new shoes; I don’t need new shoes.”
He looked down at his left plimsoll for proof and was satisfied that he could hardly see his big toe.
“In fact,” he said out loud, “I’m sure if someone who dint know it was there looked at my feet, they wun’t notice it at all.”
Mum disagreed. She quite unreasonably insisted that a big toe sticking through a hole in one’s shoe was an unmistakable sign that it was time to get new ones.
It was 4.17pm. Luke and Mum were in the fifth and final shoe shop their home town had to offer.
“This is it Luke,” Mum said testily, “this is the last one. We will be buying shoes from this shop.”
She picked out four different styles and put them down in front of him.
“Choose one.”
Luke looked at them with disgust.
“ Brown? You want me to wear brown shoes? I am not wearin’ brown shoes!”
Mum removed the two brown ones and, through gritted teeth said of the remaining two,
“Choose one of these or I will choose for you!”
If he had to have new shoes when he didn’t even need new shoes he would have chosen blue ones. He would have chosen blue plimsolls. They were comfortable. They were good for running in. And blue happened to be his favourite colour. But Mum said plimsolls were not proper shoes. She said they were not suitable for wearing in wet weather. She said they were not smart enough for school. She said he had to have those shiny sort of hard shoes that give you blisters for the first two weeks. Luke had put up strong resistance all day long but now it looked like he would have to compromise. It came down to two different black shiny shoes and one of them had tassels.
It was clear that he wasn’t going to get the plimsolls so the best he could do was make sure he didn’t get the tassels. He chose the lace-ups. Mum exhaled.
“Finally,” she said.
After Luke had tried them on and walked up and down on the carpet in them, and Mum had squeezed the toe ends of them to see how much growing room there was, the shop lady boxed them up. But just as Mum was about to pay, Luke remembered something. He’d heard a horrible rumour at school which he hoped wasn’t true but he had to be sure. He’d heard Katia tell Susan that shoes are made of cow skin! It was too shocking to contemplate and Luke had assumed Katia, who was always melodramatic, was making it up to get attention. But could she have been telling the truth?
“What are they made of?” Luke asked the shop lady.
“These are made from quality …..”
“Canvas!” Mum interrupted, “they’re made of the same material your plimsolls are made of but they’re sprayed with a special substance that makes them hard and shiny.”
Luke was surprised at his Mum for rudely interrupting someone who was already talking. The times she’d told him off for doing that. And the shop lady was obviously surprised at her too as she looked at her quite strangely. But in a way Luke was glad to discover his Mum didn’t always do everything right. It made her a bit more human.
*********************************
continues tomorrow 😀
or you can read the whole story here now 🙂
and there’s lots more interesting facts about turkeys here, including the fact that, in the wild, baby turkeys stay with their mother all year and, though turkeys habitually roost (sleep) in trees, safe above ground level, babies are unable to fly for their first couple of weeks so their mother stays with them on the ground to keep them safe and warm until they are able to fly up into the tree with her.
Love them, don’t eat them ❤ ❤ ❤
************************
birds, animals, turkeys, Christmas, vegan, vegetarian, Christmas story, vegan Christmas story
And they lived happily ever after 😀
****************
Read the whole story here 😀
**********************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
continues tomorrow 🙂
or read the whole story now if you like 😀
*********************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
continues tomorrow
but if you just can’t wait you can read the whole story here now 🙂
**********************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
continues tomorrow,
or you can read the whole story here now 🙂
************************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
continues Monday ….
but if you don’t want to wait you can read the whole story here now 🙂
*******************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
Big Blue Sky has been digitally remastered (I don’t really know what that means but it sounds good 😉 ) – actually it’s got a new font and a new illustration and some new cover art – so I thought, seeing as it’s that time of year again, we’d re-tell Clarence and Luca’s story. It begins here:
continues tomorrow 🙂
or you can read the whole digitally remastered 😉 story here now 😀
*************************
vegan children’s story, vegan Christmas story, turkeys, animals, birds
I wrote a book about some birds,
With pictures in and also words.
Brother birds who love each other,
And want to be free together.
The birds are turkeys, big and fat,
The farmer makes them fat like that.
He makes them fat to kill and eat,
For those who think they are just meat.
But they are not, they’re meant for more,
Christmas dinner’s not what they’re for.
They’re clever and they think and care,
They suffer too and that’s not fair.
So when I saw some library books
In which a family smiles and cooks
A big fat bird to celebrate
The Prince of Peace born on that date, …
I decided to put my book
On that shelf in the library nook.
A child might find it and read it and see
Turkeys deserve to be happy and free.
**************************
There are so many books in libraries that perpetuate the illusion of the witch’s spell. Whether they be fiction or non-fiction, they tell children, at the most impressionable time of their lives, that some animals are “farm animals” and as such are there to serve our ‘needs’; that we ‘need’ meat and dairy and fish; that our health is dependent on these things; that animals are happy on farms and rearing animals to kill them is the most normal, natural thing in the world. It’s no wonder it’s an uphill struggle for those of us trying to share the truth:
Years ago I purchased a new copy of a Ruby Roth book and donated it to my local library. It never made it to the shelves of that or any other library in the county. They refused to include it. They rejected it.
Adults don’t listen. Children might 😉
NB: If you photocopy an insert from a different county library than the one you’re infiltrating, maybe with the word DISCARDED stamped on it, 
and a child finds and likes the book and wants to take it home, one of two things is likely to happen:
Or
2. The child does notice the book hasn’t registered and takes it to the librarian who looks at it and says, “oh, this has been returned here by mistake, you can keep it”.
And just keep doing it, different books, different libraries, all with a positive vegan message that tells children they are right to follow their instinctive, compassionate natures and love all animals, not eat them. Most grown-ups are too stuck in their ways; too brainwashed. Communicating directly with children is the only way we’re going to change anything.
Go on, be a rebel – it’s kinda fun 😉
Gil Thompson shut down his computer, put his notepad and pens in his desk drawer and took his empty coffee cup to the dishwasher.
“See you Monday Terri,” he said to his colleague as he picked up his briefcase and headed for the door.
Teresa was engrossed in her work and took a moment to respond.
“Oh, yes, see you then,” she called after him, “wish Sally good luck from me,” she remembered to add.
Sally Thompson, Gil’s ten year old daughter, was playing the lead in her school’s production of Calamity Jane. Tonight was opening night and Gil had only an hour and a half to get home, eat dinner and get showered and changed before he drove the whole family to the performance.
It was already dark and raining hard when he pulled out of the multi-storey. The traffic was bumper to bumper and every light turned red as he approached it. It took him nearly twenty minutes to get out of the city centre so once he was on the open road he put his foot down. Visibility was bad. He knew he should slow down but his wife would be livid if he was late. With wipers going full pelt and main beams on, he tore down the country lanes towards home.
He heard a gunshot. And another one. He wasn’t alarmed because he knew what they were. The badger cull had started again. It was a shame but unless the country wanted to give up on dairy farming, it had to be done. He had issued another seven licences that day. It was vital that the spread of bovine TB was stopped. It was so upsetting for farmers when their herds got sick and had to be slaughtered. Plus, it was costing the tax payers a fortune. Ok, dairy farming was costing the tax payers a fortune anyway, but at least they were getting cheap milk out of it. He shook his head. He was the one who signed the forms but he didn’t like it, and he didn’t want to listen to it. He switched on the radio to mask the sound of the guns. The weather forecast warned that it might rain later and then one of his favourite songs began to play. His furrowed brow relaxed and he absent-mindedly started to sing along.
Suddenly something rushed out into the road in front of him and he slammed on his brakes. The car had been going too fast for a quick stop on the wet road and it hit something. Filled with dread, Gil put on the handbrake and got out to have a look. At the side of the road lay a badger. Her left ear was bloody and heart-shaped. It looked like a gunshot had taken a piece out of it. He’d hit her with his car as she ran from the guns. How awful. He looked closer and saw that she was still breathing. As he leaned over her she opened her eyes and recoiled in fear.
“It’s ok,” he tried to reassure her, “I’m going to get you some help.”
There was no way to tell how bad her injuries were and he couldn’t bear to think of her suffering. He would take her to the vet. They might have to put her to sleep but at least it would be humane.
The badger, however, had no intention of letting him near her. With great effort she got to her feet and limped towards the hedge. She squeezed through it to the field and was out of sight. Gil felt responsible. He’d been driving too fast. He switched off his headlights, turned on his hazards and locked the car. He climbed over the gate and looked around. Under the full moon he could see a dark shape limping sluggishly across the field and walked towards it. There was another one ahead of it, and another one. Six, seven, …. there were eight dark shapes moving across the field. Which was the injured one? He fumbled in his pocket for the miniature torch on his keyring and shined it over the dark shapes, crouching to look for the bloody, heart-shaped ear. But they were gone. There was not one dark shape; not one fleeing animal; not one injured badger.
Then a deafening boom shook the sky and Gil hit the ground hard. He heard voices approaching.
“Got another one! Bring the cage!”
“Oh my God! What have you done?”
“I thought it was a badger! I saw the glint in its eyes, close to the ground. I aimed for the glint!”
As he breathed his last breath, Gil saw the cage of dead badgers. Just visible, sticking out from under the pile of bodies, was the soft, black and white head of the first kill, two hours earlier. She had a blood-soaked, heart-shaped ear.
**************************
badgers, badger cull, Natural England, licence to cull, ghost story, vegan ghost story, Halloween
**************************
Oh dear, it’s not looking good for planet Earth and all its inhabitants. If you’d like to try to help the bewitched break the spell you could do as Maud suggests and share this story far and wide. The children of non-vegan parents who are caught up in the spell could be helped to snap out of it if they found this book in their library – it’s worth a try, isn’t it?
The colour version, with Beatrice Wilberforce’s illustrations, is only £3.90
and Maud’s original Wicked Wicked Witch and the Ruinous Manipulation, being entirely black and white, is only £2.80.
And, by the way, it’s surprisingly fun how easy it is to make a book look like a real bona fide library book with simple, easily edited, or not, photocopies stuck on the first page.
and maybe even one of those removable plastic book jackets they often have, which come in different sizes and are often on discarded library books 🙂
It’s just harmless fun 😉
Have a good weekend 😀
****************************************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
Story concludes tomorrow but, if you don’t want to wait,
find it now on the Fairy Tales page 🙂
*********************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
continues tomorrow, or find it on the fairy tales page now 😀
*******************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
continues tomorrow, but if you want to read the whole fairy tale now, just pop over to the Fairy Tales page 😀
*******************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
continues tomorrow but if you want to go to the Fairy Tales page and read the whole story now, you can 🙂
*********************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
continues Monday but if you don’t want to wait, you know what to do 😉
What? Oh, it’s on the Fairy Tales page 😮
****************************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
continues tomorrow
but if you don’t want to wait you can find the whole story on the fairy tales page 🙂
********************
vegan fairy tale, vegan story, vegan children’s story, vegan, vegetarian, environment, wicked witch, global warming, animals, animal rights
Violet's Vegan Comics 