Welcome to all the new members of Violet’s Vegan Comics club. We absolutely love your home-made membership cards and have added you to the Members’ Page 😀 If anyone else wants to enter our Last of the Month Club Members’ Prize Draw for a chance to win a new comic book, it’s easy to join – all you need to do is make yourself a membership card and show it to us. Go to the club page to find out how! But don’t wait too long – the last of the month is only four days away and the prize is a copy of the brand new Vegan Rascals comic!
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, exciting, and always entertaining vegan children’s books since 2012.
The first issue of Vegan Rascals is finally here and we love it! A proper old-fashioned comic with multiple stories, a fact file, a puzzle page and a yummy chip butty recipe. And as if that wasn’t enough – there’s a board game on the back! Not bad for under a fiver eh?! 😀
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Of course all the stories are free to read here, but if you’d rather read a proper paper book, this is it! 😀
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Vegan Rascals #1
Pages: 57 Binding: Paperback Interior: Colour Dimensions: US Letter (8.5 x 11 in / 216 x 279 mm)
And the most popular story for 12 and up – Maddicts
Have you read them yet?
What will you read next? There are tonnes of vegan children’s stories, with lovely vegan characters, to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀
Remember Sindy Snowdrop? She’s the adorable lamb who was kidnapped by the evil Flat-Capped Menace – you can read the story so far here – and this is what happened next! 😀
Here’s how to make an adorable rag mouse like this one:
Cut out the main head and body piece for your cloth mouse. I used a rectangle, folded in half. With right sides together, stitch around the edges, leaving one end open for stuffing.
Choose a different fabric for your arms and legs. Cut strips about the same length as your main piece, as wide as you want them, with room to spare for turning back the right way around after sewing.
Fold it in half (right sides together) and sew, leaving an open end to add stuffing.
Make another one, then turn them right side out. 😀
Then make legs. You can make long legs, the same as the arms, or little legs. Either way is fine, so do whichever you fancy. I’ve done little legs this time.
Stuff them all with kapok. If you don’t have kapok you could use old socks to stuff them, or fabric cuttings. I have done this with some of my mice, it just makes them a little bit heavier, and somewhat lumpy. When they are stuffed, sew them together! Remember that your main piece is head and body, so the arms go a little higher than half way down, depending on how big a head you want your mouse to have. 😀
Next cut out some fabric squares to make the ears. Sometimes I make very tiny ears, this time I made big ears, then I sewed them right sides together, trimmed the edges, and turned them right side out. Make two. (You probably noticed that I have used pinking shears to cut my material. You don’t have to do that but it’s good for preventing the fabric from fraying).
Then tuck the ears over the top corners of the mouse’s head and sew them on, like so:
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Next you need to make a nose for your mouse. Cut three triangular pieces and then, putting their right side edges together, sew them together lengthways, to their points – I’m not explaining this very well – look at the diagram below 😀 Leave the base ends open, turn right side out and fill with stuffing.
Then tuck in the edges, and sew the nose onto the mouse’s face.
Next your mouse will need some eyes. I sewed over and over in one place to make these eyes, but you could sew circles of fabric on, or use buttons.
Now your mouse needs a tail 😀 This time I folded a length of fabric up so that the edges were tucked in, and sewed it over, but I have also used ribbons and oddments in the past. Attach the tail to the back of the mouse’s body.
Now your mouse is finished! I bet he’s cute 😀 Send me a photo, I’d love to see him or her ❤ Here’s some I made earlier:
You can make lots of friends for your mouse, in all shapes and sizes. Here are some I made earlier:
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So there you have it 😀 A word of warning – once you start making rag mice, you may find it difficult to stop 😉
I was so moved by a post I read this week that I wanted to share it with you. Since there was no reblog button I am copying and pasting, so please go over to Marie’s site to LIKE and comment on the original post, it’s such a … what word am I looking for? I am lost for words. All I will say is that I’m so grateful to Marie for sharing her experience and lighting a fire under me. The following are all Marie’s words (and photos):
On Tuesday last week, in the pouring rain, I headed to Manchester for a peaceful vigil outside a slaughterhouse. I have never been to one before, and honestly, I never believed it would be something I could manage. But recently I’ve felt ready to step forwards much more with my animal activism.
The slaughterhouse is in Ashton-under-Lyne and activists there have been peacefully protesting for years. Animal Saves are done in cities and towns all over the world. After some time the activists here have developed a good relationship with the security guard who allows the trucks to stop for a few minutes before going in.
I pulled up right in front of the group to ask for directions of where best to park and saw a slaughter truck at the gate. I had been feeling strong but immediately felt myself break. After I parked up I walked to meet the small group. The last slaughter truck had gone in. Annoyed at myself I didn’t even manage a hello before becoming upset. Thankfully this didn’t seem unusual behaviour and everyone welcomed me with open arms.
Another slaughter truck pulled in. The driver stopped at the gate. The activists moved forwards to the truck. Many had bought stools to stand on as the open section is quite high. Someone kindly offered me theirs. I stood on it and looked into the truck. It was crammed with young pigs. The heat and the smell was intense – I know they could have been in that truck for hours without food or water. They were very quiet and barely moved. I didn’t want to look in their eyes but I made myself. I could only see fear and it was beyond intolerable to see an animal that frightened. The driver beeped his horn. We all stepped back. The truck drove into the slaughterhouse. Just before we did I managed to stroke one of their ears with one finger peeking through the bars and tell them it would all be over soon.
This process repeated itself I think 7 more times in the 2 hours I was there. I can’t say it got any easier. The other activists told me about themselves, everyone introduced themselves to me, someone bought a bunch of vegan snacks. I politely nibbled mine, I couldn’t stomach it. I was struck by their friendliness though. Occasionally while you were chatting you could hear screaming in the background. I declined to go closer to the area where the animals are killed to be a witness to the screaming. But maybe I will be ready for that another time.
It may seem like quite a pointless thing to be doing for some of you reading. As of course you can’t stop what is happening to those animals you lock eyes with. You just have to step back when the driver beeps his horn and let the animals go in. The answer to why is to simply bear witness to an injustice, to document it and to share it. With the hope that this may help more and more people connect with farmed animals and consider to not be a part of their exploitation. This blog post explains what you are trying to achieve way better than I am as well as providing self care to activists and is well worth a read – https://www.dominionmovement.com/self-care
For myself – although I know what happens to animals in animal agriculture and am horrified by that – seeing part of the process was another level of knowledge. It was obviously extremely tragic and upsetting. But I know now that I can be extremely upset and act at the same time. I feel like the least I can do is look into their eyes and acknowledge and witness what is being done to them, even if I can’t stop it.
I am still processing that day, thinking about the pigs I met, the ears I stroked and the backs I rubbed. I hope they’re at peace now. I’m grateful for the kindness of the other activists, how gladly they welcomed me. Many cars beeped their horns and waved as they drove by seeing the signs – it feels like all hope is not lost.
For those who’ve never met Megan & Flos, Megan is an ordinary vegan girl and Flos is an ordinary Summum Esse (from the planet Summum). They’re telepathic, have telekinetic powers, and wear gravity-adjusting belts which enable them to get around on dry land. Pop over to their page to catch up on the history of these extraordinary eco-warriors before Monday gets here. You don’t want to miss this – there’s trouble ahead!
Megan & Flos is a vegan adventure comic for kids by Violet’s Vegan Comics.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics – creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages since 2012.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has been working for years to end the use of animals in “terminal” training exercises at veterinary schools—in which students perform procedures on otherwise healthy animals, who are then killed. Today they are happy to report that one of the nation’s highest-ranked vet schools, Colorado State University, has officially ended the use of terminal labs!
The PCRM first became involved in this issue in February 2020, when a CSU vet student contacted them. The student was shocked to learn that the curriculum included courses in which students would perform invasive surgical procedures on sheep, pigs, and horses. At the end of the training exercises, the animals were killed.
After receiving documents from CSU through the state’s open records law, the PCRM reached out to the dean of the veterinary school and were happy to hear that they were “also committed to the goal of eliminating terminal procedures.”
Over the last two years, the PCRM have worked closely with CSU leaders, alumni, students, and faculty at other veterinary schools to provide useful information and support as the university has made this transition. CSU leaders deserve immense credit for this change: To replace terminal labs, they have increased student exposure to surgical skills that are foundational to veterinary medicine, provided greater opportunities for repetition and practice, and expanded student access to real-world surgical experiences involving animals in need of procedures. This will make CSU graduates not only more compassionate but also more skilled.
CSU’s decision follows the elimination of terminal dog labs by Tuskegee University and Auburn University in 2021, which came about following work by the Physicians Committee. We hope this trend will send a clear message to vet schools elsewhere that terminal training labs can and should be replaced.
The Physicians’ Committee give special thanks to their Remembering Rodney Society members for this victory. Like the countless dogs, cats, pigs, and other animals used in terminal labs, Rodney was a sweet and loving dog who suffered through multiple painful veterinary training procedures before being killed. Members of the Remembering Rodney Society keep his spirit alive by providing the monthly support that allows the Physicians Committee to save animals day after day. You can help them save the “Rodneys” who still suffer in research, testing, and training programs by joining the society today.
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Want to know more? Read about Hugo’s lucky escape from a laboratory breeding facility in Let the dogs out, a graphic novel (with a happy ending) on our stories for teens and up page.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creating funny, enlightening and sometimes action-packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages, since 2012.
You have to be really careful not to accidently buy something containing animal products when you’re buying art and craft materials but, thanks to an ever increasing number of people like us demanding cruelty-free art supplies, there are more on the market than ever before 😀
The wonderful ARTdiscount store gives us detailed information about which products are vegan-friendly and make it easy to be sure you’re not accidentally hurting anyone with your creative pursuits.
Here is their detailed page, divided into specific sections like ‘vegan watercolour artist’, ‘vegan calligraphy’, ‘vegan sketcher’ and ‘vegan kids’ art materials’, you’ll find everything you could want right there 😀
There are lots of summer reading challenges out there to join, online or at your local library.
They invite you to read six books over the summer! You might be able get a chart from your library to keep track of your progress, or you could get creative and make one yourself! It’s a great way to keep busy and entertained. As luck would have it, we have all the books you need and more to keep you going all July and August, for younger children, veggie kids aged eight and up, vegan teenagers, vegan fairy tale enthusiasts, English language learners and everyone else that likes books and animals.
We have them free to read online, or you can order them in paperback, not to mention our delightful new ebooks! Available to download to your tablets or ereaders. The choice is yours, feel free to go crazy.
We have a tie! The winners are Reflecto Girl #7 Incidental and The King’s Three Sons.
Reflecto Girl #7 Incidental!
Click on the pic to read this new short fairy tale
Have you read them yet? What will you read next? There’s tonnes of stories with lovely vegan characters to choose from on our stories and comics page. Read them for free, any time you like. 😀
“Today is World Animal Free Research Day. This day highlights the importance of developing animal-free research techniques and protecting animals during scientific studies.
Decapods in Science
Decapods, like crabs and lobsters, are used in science, but because they aren’t protected by laws that monitor experiments, there’s currently no way of ensuring their welfare in labs. They could be used for any experiment, as well as being handled and kept in ways that are harmful to their wellbeing.
We’re working to change this.
Science in Legislation
A law exists called ‘Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act’, also referred to as ‘ASPA’. This piece of legislation regulates the use of animals in science to ensure welfare is considered. Studies using animals that are protected by this law must justify why they are conducting that study, and how they are respecting the welfare of the animals used. It also means the number of animals used must be reported, so there are records to gauge the scale of the issue.
Now that their sentience has been officially recognised, we’re calling for decapods to be added to this law so that they are protected in the same way as other animals during experiments. One of the first things we’ll be doing is arranging a meeting with the Home Office to discuss expanding ASPA to cover decapods too.
We also published a press release with the RSPCA on World Day for Laboratory Animals, calling for the protection of decapods in science. The story was covered by The Guardian and Independent, and Animal Journal.
Make sure to keep up to date with the campaign to see our next steps in getting decapods protected in laws such as ASPA.
“I believe I am not interested to know whether Vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn’t. To know that the results are profitable to the race would not remove my hostility to it. The pains which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity towards it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further.” Mark Twain in a letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society, May 26, 1899
Restoring Hope MAY 25 “This cute dog got caught and spent 3 days on a snare. The left hand got damaged and the owner was only applying herbs that finally damaged the hand. The owner lost hope. However, the owner’s son, John heard about LAWCS from his friend and he ran to our office to help their family dog from dying. Our Animal Healthcare Officer immediately went to the village to save the dog. The hand was amputated and after intensive care, the dog has recovered and looks so happy.”
Do you know of a school that could do with some vegan story books?
We give a box of our books to one lucky school every month. If you’d like to suggest a school, please fill in the form on our free books for schools page 😀
The story of vegan super(sort of)hero, Reflecto Girl, continues into episode 2 now, in which Renee launches Reflecto Girl’s career 😀 (Incidentally, can anyone tell me how to put the accent on the second e of Renee’s name? 😀 )
Join us on Monday to see what happens when Renee checks it out, unless you don’t want to wait, in which case you can find out now 🙂
Have a great weekend! ❤
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Reflecto Girl is a character created by Violet’s Vegan Comics
Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages.
The early episodes of vegan superhero (sort of), Reflecto Girl have been revamped so let’s see how her story began. Watch it unfold day by day or read it all at once on the Reflecto Girl page 😀
Now that’s my kind of inheritance! I wish I had one 😀 Come back tomorrow to find out what it’s capable of 😀
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages.
“We have great news! Government report confirms decapods can feel pain
A year ago, in response to our campaigning, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) commissioned an independent piece of work, looking into whether or not animals like crabs, lobsters and prawns (decapod crustaceans) are sentient animals and can feel pain. After numerous delays, and much chasing by Crustacean Compassion and our wonderful supporters – the report has finally been published! We may have waited a year… but the findings are well worth it! An expert team of scientists, led by Dr Jonathan Birch, at London School of Economics (LSE) reviewed all available evidence, and concluded that decapods are capable of feeling pain and must be protected. The wealth of scientific evidence confirmed what we knew already – these animals are sentient beings! Here’s a quote from the report: “We recommend that all cephalopod molluscs and decapod crustaceans be regarded as sentient animals for the purposes of UK animal welfare law. They should be counted as “animals” for the purposes of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and included in the scope of any future legislation relating to animal sentience”The government’s plan to protect decapods.
In light of this, the UK Government are planning to amend the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill to protect decapod crustaceans alongside vertebrates. The inclusion of decapods in this legislation is ground breaking! The legal recognition of their sentience means their welfare must be considered in policy making decisions and will influence how they are handled and treated. At the moment, decapods have no more protection than vegetables. They are boiled alive, chopped up alive, sent live in the post… This legal protection is long overdue! What happens next?
The Sentience Bill is due to continue its passage through parliament to become law. The next step is Report Stage in the House of Lords, taking place Tuesday 30th November. On this day, we expect the government’s amendment to include decapods to be confirmed and put into print! Make sure to stay tuned as we’ll be sharing updates on our social media, website and by email. Thank you!
It has taken us years of work to get to this point, and we couldn’t have done it without you all. Every action taken has brought us one step closer to protecting these vulnerable and overlooked animals. Thanks to all of you, we are changing animal welfare history. Thank you for your ongoing support.”
Maisie, Claire, Jules, Laura, Ann Crustacean Compassion
Thank you so much to everyone who signed the petition, shared the campaign, wrote to their representatives, and helped make this happen. Thank you so so much. xxxxx
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages, which are free to read online.
“We’d like to thank you for sending in your wonderful selfies…We received hundreds!
By signing our petition and writing to your MPs, as thousands of you have, the government have heard your voices. But we wanted to go one step further and provide the opportunity to show your faces too.
We wanted to use your faces to demonstrate visually how much support there is for the legal protection of vulnerable animals like crabs, prawns and lobsters. To do this, we’ve used every selfie to create a ‘welfare mosaics’; images of these overlooked animals, made-up by the faces of the people standing up for them:
We have been sharing this mosaic all over social media and are continuously reminding Defra of the deadline they have promised to ensure the review of decapod sentience is published before the Sentience Bill’s next step through parliament. We expect this to come very soon and will keep you updated!
Show your face and show your support.
In the meantime, let’s get the message out there. Join Michaela Strachan and our other amazing supporters by sharing our mosaic far and wide on social media! Don’t forget to tag @Defra too if you can!”
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I’m sure, like us, you would like to take a sledgehammer to the doors of all seafood restaurants and rescue the still living sentient beings who are yet to endure horrific abuse. But we would not likely get away with that for long and even if we were successful for a while, those rescued animals would simply be replaced with other victims. Crustacean Compassion’s campaign is our best hope of permanently preventing the unimaginable cruelty suffered by crustaceans. Please share their work on social media, whether you’re from the UK or not, and inspire some morality amongst the decision-makers.
Thank you.
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Violet’s Vegan Comics creates funny, enlightening and sometimes action packed vegan children’s books for readers of all ages.
Oh that is a relief! I hope they’ll all be safe now.
Come back soon to see what happens next!
If you like vegan children’s stories and comics, you’ve come to the right place. But you don’t have to be a child to read them, they are all delightful, thrilling or exciting no matter how old a vegan you are.
Vegan stories with vegan characters having vegan adventures.
What’s a vegan storybook? you may ask. Well, basically, it’s like any other storybook except the central characters – the heroes – are vegan 😀
How many times have you had your enjoyment of a good story spoilt when the heroes – the people you liked, the people you were rooting for – ate meat or went fishing or bought a leather jacket?
When these things happen in children’s stories they send a message – they tell the child that it’s okay to do these things. The good guys do it so it must be okay. It’s normal.
Well, vegan storybooks do not pretend it’s okay to use, abuse and consume animals. Vegan storybooks create a new normal.
So a vegan storybook is not necessarily about veganism. It is simply a story in which animal exploitation is not normalised.
If you browse the front page you will see we have all sorts of vegan children’s books.
There are picture books and rhyming stories for little ones – one about an alien visitor to Earth, another about making a birthday cake, another about two little pigs trying to get home, another about a panda trying to find the right food and, yes, one about what it means to be vegan. ❤
We have some exciting series of vegan adventure comics for readers aged 8 and up. For example, Reflecto Girl who holds an ancient magic mirror in front of wrong-doers to give them a taste of their own medicine. Venus Aqueous is a champion swimmer who develops the supernatural power to hear and understand the marine animals who call for her help. Megan & Flos are telepathic eco-warriors and one of them is not of this world. Sherman and Geynes are pretend detectives who investigate mysteries of their own invention. The English Family Anderson are a nomadic family who meet an angry ghost. And Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins are fearless, and funny, animal rescuers.
For those who prefer their stories in prose we have the funny short stories of Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er – a rebellious eight year old boy who sticks up for animals at every opportunity, regardless of the trouble he gets into with parents and teachers. And there’s the thoughtful diary of a nine year old home-schooler.
There’s even a collection of fairy tales!
All our books are printed by lulu.com on demand to avoid waste, and the paper used is Forest Council Certified. None of the materials used for printing are animal by-products or animal-tested.
We hope you enjoy these stories as much as we do – you can read them all for free here at Violet’s Vegan Comics – and keep coming back because we’re adding more all the time. We just can’t help ourselves!
“Not here,” said Mr Beardsley, “or they might get eaten. Put them on my desk behind the screen.”
The boys did as they were told and made their way through small huddles of various royalty, warriors and poets, a couple of Shakespeares and a Jesus. No sooner had they placed the food on the desk than Mr Beardsley asked Joe to give him the treacle scones and string so that he could set up the game. They would be starting in about ten minutes he told them. Music was already playing and a few people danced self-consciously in the middle of the room.
“This one’s for you Joe,” came a familiar voice through the speaker when the record changed.
Luke and Joe looked around to see Simon Butler behind a turntable across the room, dressed in a short blonde beard; a gold fitted jacket zipped up to his neck; short gold trousers fastened below the knee; long socks and large-buckled shoes. He thought he was so cool because Mr Beardsley had let him be the DJ. The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum by Fun Boy Three filled the room and Butler laughed excessively at his own joke. Luke and Joe paid him a visit.
“So glad you took my advice Joe,” he said privately, “you look even more like a loon than usual!”
“I’m Pythagoras,” said Joe, holding up the right-angled triangle he’d made out of three rulers.
“Oh, yeah, I know you think so, lunatics often think they’re somebody famous,” he chuckled smugly.
“I’m not a lunatic! I am Pythag…”
“What are you s’posed to be anyway?” Luke interrupted their pointless argument to draw attention to Butler’s ridiculous ensemble.
“Sir Walter Raleigh,” Butler confessed without shame.
Luke cast his best contemptuous glance at his arch enemy and said nothing.
“Okay, switch the music off now Simon, it’s time for the games to begin,” Mr Beardsley called across the room.
Mr Beardsley and Thomas had put out four small tables at intervals around the room. They were set up with different traditional Halloween games.
“Take it in turns to play the games at each table,” Blackbeard instructed, “have fun!” He was the kind of teacher who didn’t believe in too much control. He liked to give the children enough room to find their own way and, since he’d already explained the games in class, he chose not to recap. “You can put the music back on now Simon,” he added.
“This table is for apple bobbing,” said Thomas who, unlike his colleague, preferred to make sure things were being done properly. “One at a time. Katia – you go first.”
Luke and Joe decided to come back later for apples and wandered over to see what was on the next table. Joe’s treacle-covered scones, with long lengths of string tied to them, were suspended above the table and dangled at different heights. Queen Elizabeth I and Boudicca were already tucking in. With hands held behind their backs, Tania and Isabel tried to bite the scones and every time they got a nibble, the sticky pendulums swung away and then back, bumping their noses, their chins, their cheeks and their hair. Boudicca, being less concerned about her appearance than the Queen, finished her scone first and bowed her grinning, sticky head in gratitude for the applause of her peers. Queen Liz, dignified in defeat, shook her opponent’s hand and went to the sink to wash her face.
“Us next!” said Luke, standing beside the table and leaning forward. “Go!” he shouted before Joe was ready, and tried to grab an untouched scone in his teeth.
Joe hurried to join in but found himself at a disadvantage when one scone stuck to his thick beard, just below his bottom lip, and prevented him from getting close to any other. Thomas laughed and reminded Joe that he couldn’t use his hands but he needn’t have said anything because Joe was not a cheater. Luke was the clear victor, finishing his scone in just four bites, and afterwards Joe was allowed to manually detach his scone from his beard and eat it normally. There were less hairs on it than one might expect.
At the next table were small plates with chunks of barm brack on them, cut from the fruit breads that Luke and a couple of other people had made.
“I’ve got a coin!” said Isabel as she broke up her piece with a fork, “that means I’m going to be rich!”
“I think you’re s’posed to just bite it,” said Joe, “it might not work if you pull it apart like that.”
“Plus it’s dirty,” added Tania, “money’s really dirty you know. Just think how many people have touched it without washing their hands.”
Joe had already bitten into his chunk of barmbrack and discovered that he too had a coin. He spat it quickly into his hand.
“It’s not dirty,” Luke assured him, “don’t ya think I washed ’em before I put ’em in?”
“Is this the one that you made?” Joe asked, a little relieved.
“Yeah,” said Luke confidently, “well, it looks …, yeah, definitely.”
Luke bit into his piece of bread and found only currants and orange peel.
At the next table were three large dishes of colcannon, accompanied by a stack of small bowls and spoons. The game was the same. If you found a coin it meant you would be rich; if you found a ring it meant you would find true love. Luke hadn’t had any rings to put into his baking, and he’d put all his spare coins into his barm brack, so he loaded his bowl from the colcannon he’d made himself, knowing that the only thing he was in danger of finding was a pile of delicious grub. Thoughtful as always, he didn’t spoil the game for the others by telling them that.
A few minutes later, Luke, Joe, Tania and Isabel, all happy in spite of finding nothing but cabbage in their mash, found their newly stimulated appetites craved more and made their way to the long table. It was a good job they hadn’t left it any longer as many of the other children were already digging in and the good stuff was going fast. Luke took a large paper plate from the pile and filled it with roasted sweetcorn, monkey nuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, bonfire toffee and … oh no, Joe got the last toffee apple.
“Oh, do you want it?” Joe offered when his hand reached it just before Luke’s.
“Nah,” said Luke, trying to sound casual, “it’s yours.”
“We’ll share it,” Joe decided.
Luke smiled.
“Okay.” This was a good party.
Then he noticed something bad on the table. Something not in keeping with the celebration. Something odious. Something which was in shockingly bad taste: Scotch eggs.
“Hey! They can’t have them on Halloween! Who brought them?” he asked, pointing with disgust at the flesh food and surveying the faces around the table.
“What’s wrong?” asked Isabel.
Luke didn’t hear her. He angrily snatched the plate from the buffet, intending to dispose of the offending items.
“Mr Beardsley said it’s a Halloween tradition to be vegetarian,” Joe explained to Isabel, “so Luke is cross that somebody’s not doin’ it right.”
“So I see,” said Isabel as she watched Luke trying to move through the crowd holding the large plate of Scotch eggs above his head with both hands.
“Hey! Where you going with those?” Butler asked as Luke passed the music centre on his way to the toilets.
“Gettin’ rid of ’em!” said Luke, “they’re not Halloween.”
“Hey! Bring them back! My mum made them! Bring them back!”
Luke hurried through the cloakroom door with Butler close behind him. The music stopped and everyone could hear the two boys arguing loudly on the other side of the door.
Mr Beardsley hurried after them.
“Don’t come any nearer or I’ll drop ’em,” Luke threatened, forcing Butler to back off.
“You’ve got no right to throw away other people’s stuff!” he shouted angrily, “you think you’re better than everybody else! You think you’re so good but you’re not – you’re a thief! Give them back!”
“It’s no meat for Halloween!” Luke asserted, “dint your teacher tell you that?!”
“We don’t have to do what you say! Some of us want to eat meat – most of us actually – coz it tastes good! Mmm, I’d love a nice bacon buttie right now, or a nice bit of fish and chips, or a big juicy burger.”
His infuriating smirk pushed Luke to the limit and he lunged for the toilet door.
“Stop!” The boom of Mr Beardsley’s voice did not encourage disobedience.
Luke froze, plate in hand, his back to his teacher and his adversary.
“Could someone please tell me what on Earth is going on here?” Mr Beardsley asked more calmly.
Both boys talked at once: “He’s throwing my mum’s food in the toilet” / “Meat’s not allowed on Halloween!”
“Stop!” their teacher said again, “Luke, what are you doing out here with that plate of Scotch eggs?”
“They shouldn’t be here! You said people dint eat meat on Halloween! It’s tradition!”
“Yes, that’s true, I did, it is traditional not to eat meat on All Hallows’ Eve.”
“But my mum made them! He’s got no right to throw them away!”
“Simon!” Mr Beardsley quieted him, “no one’s going to throw away your mother’s food. Go back in to the party please and get the music going again.”
Simon reluctantly did as he was told and Mr Beardsley turned back to Luke.
“Give me the plate please,” he instructed.
“But they’re not …”
“Luke, now please.”
Luke handed him the plate.
“But you’re not gonna put ’em back on the table are you? They’re not s’posed to be …”
“Luke, I know you feel strongly about this and I respect that but you can’t force your beliefs on other people. Everyone has to be free to make their own choices.”
“Yeah right! Tell that to the chickens and pigs they’re made out of! If they’d had free choice they would’ve said NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH, I DON’T WANT TO BE A SCOTCH EGG!”
“Yes, alright Luke you’ve made your point. Now kindly return to the party and stay away from Simon Butler.”
Back in the classroom Luke found his plate and his friends and told them the whole story.
“You’re right,” said Tania, “Simon knew he was supposed to make something from the traditional vegetarian recipes Mr Beardsley gave us. He should’ve been reprimanded for not doing it right.”
“Typical!” added Isabel, “look at that, Beardsley’s just putting the scotch eggs back on the table. That flies in the face of everything he taught us! What’s the point of teaching us about historical tradition and saying you want to have a traditional party if you’re just going to let people be inauthentic?”
“Yeah! It’s fraudulent!” Tania concurred.
Luke hungrily polished off his sweetcorn while he listened to the impressive but unfamiliar vocabulary being employed by the girls and was in no doubt that they agreed with him.
“I think we should boycott this party!” Isabel declared.
“Whaddaya mean?” asked Joe.
“On the grounds that it’s a sham.”
“What?” said Luke and Joe at the same time.
“She means it’s bogus,” Tania explained, “spurious, phoney, false, fake.”
“Oh, yeah, it’s fake alright,” said Luke, catching up, “he’s ruined it. It’s not thentick at all now!”
“If we want a truly educational, authentic, realistic, traditional Halloween experience, we’ll have to do it ourselves,” Isabel went on, “we should go now and play the other game he told us about. The one he said we couldn’t play.”
The others gasped and then grinned.
“That’s ezzactly what we should do,” said Luke.
***
A noisy, activity-filled party with only two adults in attendance was easy to sneak away from. It hadn’t even been difficult to get the matches from Mr Beardsley’s desk drawer. Fortunately there had been no rain for a couple of weeks so it didn’t take long to find ample dry twigs and fir cones in the churchyard over the road. Now all they needed was a big stone each and that would be no problem either because Luke remembered seeing some different coloured pebbles, curiously arranged in the shape of a fish, close to the church entrance. They’d just been left there. No one was using them.
It was just after nine o’clock and very dark in the churchyard. Two owls hooted back and forth. Every so often bats flew overhead between the bell tower and the vicarage. Now it really felt like Halloween. The children made themselves comfortable on the ground near the oldest gravestones they could find. Covered in lichen, the writing on them was almost illegible.
Making sure there was nothing flammable nearby, Luke built a small fire with the twigs and fir cones on the crumbling horizontal stone base of one of the graves. He had no trouble getting it going with the few scraps of paper found in Mr Beardsley’s desk drawer earlier.
As their teacher had told them, the game was simple. On Halloween night, participants made a fire and when the fire burnt out they placed a ring of stones in the ashes, one for each person. The following morning they would check the circle and if they found any stone displaced, it was said that the person it represented would die before the year ended.
Luke drew a circle in the ash with another stick. Their pebbles were easy to distinguish from each other. Luke’s was the biggest and the darkest. He put it in the twelve o’clock position, closest to the gravestone. Joe’s was a little smaller and had a notch on one side. He placed it at nine o’clock. Isabel’s looked like it had a nose, hers was placed at six o’clock and Tania’s, the smallest of them all, was placed at three o’clock.
“What was that?” Isabel turned suddenly to look behind her.
“Just a rabbit prob’ly,” said Luke, “or a badger.”
“Or a fox,” added Joe.
The boys looked around eagerly, hoping to see some majestic nocturnal wildlife. They weren’t so lucky.
“We’d better get back,” said Tania, looking at her watch, “it’s nearly five to ten.”
“Wait!” whispered Luke as he ducked behind a tree, “that’s my dad!”
The churchyard was a short-cut between the school and Luke’s road so he might have known his dad would come this way to meet him. Everyone laid low until he’d passed.
“My mum’s probably at the school by now too,” said Tania.
“They’ll all be there, waiting outside the classroom for us,” said Isabel anxiously, “how will we get back in without them seeing us?”
Luke and Joe smiled at each other. For seasoned outlaws like them, this wasn’t going to be a problem.
“Follow us,” said Joe, and they led the girls to a little known entrance to the school which was always left open when the caretaker was around so that he could duck out quickly for a smoke without going past the kitchens or the offices. The door led to the school hall which had a connecting door to Mrs Tebbut’s classroom which shared a cloakroom with Class 5A.
“Don’t tell anyone about this,” Joe added as an afterthought.
Without raising suspicion all four of them rejoined the rest of their class as they emerged from the party. They parted with a secret promise to meet early Saturday morning and check on the fire circle. Each agreed to wait until they were all together before they looked.
When all children had been collected Mr Beardsley and Thomas returned to the classroom to clear up the mess. They were tired but it had been fun; they were glad they’d done it.
“Excuse me,” Mrs Butler put her head round the door.
“Oh, hello,” said Mr Beardsley, “are you looking for your plate? It’s in a stack in the sink. I’ll wash it up and send it home with Simon on Monday.”
“Er, thank you, no, I’m looking for Simon. Did he leave with someone else?”
Mr Beardsley’s jaw dropped. Filled with dread he looked at Thomas. Thomas shook his head. At that moment the classroom door opened again and Simon walked in.
“Simon! Where have you been?” his mum asked, awash with relief.
“Looking for you,” he lied, “shall we go?”
**************************************
Ooh, – if you didn’t read the beginning of this vegan Halloween story, you won’t understand the ending 😀
Fancy some more vegan children’s stories? There’s plenty to choose from here 😀
Friday’s party was eagerly anticipated by everyone. It was going to be historical. They were going to play traditional games and eat traditional food – which they would have to make from scratch over the next couple of days. Mr Beardsley had given them recipes to take home. And they needed costumes. There was a lot to do and very little time in which to do it. Luke and Joe talked about it while they put on their coats and boots at the end of the day.
“I’m going to be a pirate,” said Joe.
“You can’t be a pirate, it’s not historical.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No, it’s made up. Like in Peter Pan.”
“Pirates are real,” Isabel couldn’t help pointing out when she overheard their conversation.
“Not Long John Silver, or Captain Hook, or someone with a parrot on ‘is shoulder,” Luke clarified.
“What are you comin’ as then?” asked Joe.
“William Wilberforce’s ghost,” said Luke proudly.
“Ooh, good one,” said Tania as she returned to Isabel the scarf she’d borrowed.
“I’m coming as Queen Elizabeth I,” she added, shaking her auburn curls.
“Who can I be?” Isabel wondered aloud. The girls walked away in deep discussion. Luke and Joe were not far behind. Joe was disappointed that he couldn’t go as a pirate.
“What can I go as then?” he asked his friend.
“Go as a lunatic from one of those old asylums,” suggested Simon Butler who’d appeared from nowhere, “then you wouldn’t need a costume!” And he laughed so loud on his way out that Mrs Tebbut shouted ‘PIPE DOWN OUT THERE!’ from the classroom next door.
Luke scowled.
“Idiot Butler! Not even s’posed to be in this cloakroom,” he hissed under his breath. “Don’t worry,” he told Joe, “you’ll be somethin’ better’n ‘im!”
***
“Not Mr Darcy! Mr Wilberforce!” Luke insisted. “I don’t want to look like some posh bloke from Priden Precipice!”
Mrs Walker pulled the black trousers, white ruffled shirt and long black coat from The Village Players’ costume trunk.
“William Wilberforce would have dressed like Mr Darcy Luke, these will be just the thing,” she assured him, “I’ll just give them an iron.”
“Okay,” Luke tentatively agreed, “but what about Joe? Is there anythin’ in there that Joe can wear?”
Luke’s mum set up the board and plugged in the iron.
“Who’s he going as?” she asked.
“Depends what costumes you’ve got,” said Luke, keeping an open mind.
Mum had only recently joined the local amateur dramatics group so she wasn’t sure what costumes they’d got. Most of them were a bit worse for wear but they were lucky to be allowed to use them.
“See for yourself,” she suggested, “have a rummage and see if anything captures your imagination.”
Luke rummaged. Pink tights, brown tights, knickerbockers, caterpillar costume, spider costume, Cheshire Cat costume, blue dress with white pinafore. So far not so good. Red ball gown, green ball gown, yellow ball gown, purple tutu, red clown shoes. Really not good.
“Rubbish!” said Luke ungratefully, “it’s all rubbish!”
Mum sighed and switched off the iron.
“Luke – don’t just throw them around like that! You’re lucky we’ve been allowed to borrow these,” she said, exasperated.
Luke was sorry. He just wanted to find something good for Joe to shut Butler up. He helped Mum pick up the costumes and re-fold them.
“Sorry,” he said.
She pressed her lips tight together and looked him in the eye.
“That’s alright,” she said. Then, just as she was about to put the folded pile back in the trunk, she noticed a couple of things Luke had missed.
“What about these?” she said.
“A nightgown and a Father Christmas beard?” said Luke, unimpressed.
“Not a nightgown, a robe,” she explained, “men used to wear these in the olden days, especially in hot countries.”
Luke’s blank expression indicated he needed another clue.
“Who’s that maths guy you like?”
Still blank.
“Vegetarian? Triangles?”
“Pythagoras!”
“Yes!” Mum smiled, “I bet he would have worn something like this. And he probably had a long white beard when he got old.”
“Yeah!” Now Luke was excited, “We’ll both be veggietareun people from history! Joe can be Pythagoras and I’ll be William Wilberforce’s ghost!”
“Why not just William Wilberforce? Why do you have to be his ghost?”
“Coz it’s a Halloween party. Ya know: Ha-llow-een. It’s all about ghosts and scary stuff.” He thought his mum would have known that.
“Yes, but you’re all going as people from history.”
“Yes.”
“So they’re all dead.”
“Yeah.” There really was nothing confusing here.
“So why doesn’t Joe go as Pythagoras’s ghost?”
“It’s supposed to be someone who’s dead. So he’s Pythagoras. The man.”
“Yes, I see, so why aren’t you the man?”
“I’m going to be William Wilberforce’s ghost.”
“Not man?”
“No.”
“But if you’re a ghost why isn’t Joe going to be a ghost. Or if he’s the man, why aren’t you the man…?” She caught sight of her own reflection in the mirror and paused, wondering why she kept asking questions to which there could be no satisfactory answer.
“Can you iron this one as well please?” her son asked, handing back the white robe, “I’m goin’ to phone Joe and tell ‘im.”
***
On Friday 31st of October at 7.08 pm, Luke and Joe said goodbye to Luke’s dad at the school gate and walked towards the classroom carrying their contributions to the party food. Luke had followed the Halloween recipes given to him by Mr Beardsley for barm brack (a kind of fruit bread) and colcannon (mashed potatoes mixed with cabbage). Mum had helped a bit. Joe brought the treacle-covered scones he’d made with Janet’s assistance, using another of their teacher’s traditional recipes. He’d also remembered the string.
Mr Beardsley’s classroom was almost unrecognisable.
Hanging from the ceiling were two large imitation crystal chandeliers, covered in cobwebs and emitting a very dim, creamy light. Long dark-purple velvet curtains replaced the Venetian blinds that usually hung in the windows, the bottoms of which sat in folds on the floor around large pumpkins carved with grotesque gargoyle faces.
The boys approached a long table at one end of the room. It was draped in a ragged, dark red table cloth whose dusty hem skimmed the dusty parquet. On it fifteen white candles stood tall on three candelabra, complete with realistic-looking orange and yellow tissue paper flames and untidily littered with long drips of dry wax. Various plates and bowls of food, brought by the children, were set upon the table. Luke and Joe added theirs.
“No, not on there boys,” Mr Beardsley startled them, suddenly appearing as he did. “Those are for the games, remember?”
Luke and Joe looked at their teacher and then at each other and laughed. Mr Beardsley had really pulled out all the stops for this party. His already lofty frame appeared even taller than usual, and his apparently-severed head rested in front of his chest, supported by his left arm. Atop the severed head sat an enviable black hat, with wide upturned brim and a sinister-looking white skull and cross-bones on the front.
“Who are you supposed to be?” asked Luke.
“Can’t you guess?” teased his teacher, rubbing his brand new coal-black beard.
“No,” said Luke. Joe also shook his head.
Mr Beardsley tutted.
“Boys, boys boys,” he said, shaking his head, “don’t you ever listen to my lessons?” he asked rhetorically. “I’m Blackbeard. Remember? The famous pirate who was beheaded in 1718?”
“Pirate?” said Joe, looking daggers at Luke.
****************************************
Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of this vegan children’s story,
What’s a vegan storybook? you may ask. Well, basically, it’s like any other storybook except the central characters – the heroes – are vegan 😀
How many times have you had your enjoyment of a good story spoilt when the heroes – the people you liked, the people you were rooting for – ate meat or went fishing or bought a leather jacket?
When these things happen in children’s stories they send a message – they tell the child that it’s okay to do these things. The good guys do it so it must be okay. It’s normal.
Well, vegan storybooks do not pretend it’s okay to use, abuse and consume animals. Vegan storybooks create a new normal.
So a vegan storybook is not necessarily about veganism. It is simply a story in which animal exploitation is not normalised.
If you browse the front page you will see we have all sorts of vegan children’s books.
There are picture books and rhyming stories for little ones – one about an alien visitor to Earth, another about making a birthday cake, another about two little pigs trying to get home, another about a panda trying to find the right food and, yes, one about what it means to be vegan. ❤
We have some exciting series of vegan adventure comics for readers aged 8 and up. For example, Reflecto Girl who holds an ancient magic mirror in front of wrong-doers to give them a taste of their own medicine. Venus Aqueous is a champion swimmer who develops the supernatural power to hear and understand the marine animals who call for her help. Megan & Flos are telepathic eco-warriors and one of them is not of this world. Sherman and Geynes are pretend detectives who investigate mysteries of their own invention. The English Family Anderson are a nomadic family who meet an angry ghost. And Marvellous Mildred and the Girl Scout Twins are fearless, and funny, animal rescuers.
For those who prefer their stories in prose we have the funny short stories of Luke Walker: animal stick up for-er – a rebellious eight year old boy who sticks up for animals at every opportunity, regardless of the trouble he gets into with parents and teachers. And there’s the thoughtful diary of a nine year old home-schooler.
There’s even a collection of fairy tales!
All our books are printed by lulu.com on demand to avoid waste, and the paper used is Forest Council Certified. None of the materials used for printing are animal by-products or animal-tested.
We hope you enjoy these stories as much as we do – you can read them all for free here at Violet’s Vegan Comics – and keep coming back because we’re adding more all the time. We just can’t help ourselves!
Violet's Vegan Comics 
