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I Published a Children’s Book About a Walrus who Goes to Space
Enjoy the free digital version here. If you purchase the physical book or the eBook, proceeds will go to advancing children’s cancer research.
How I Modeled a Walrus after a Potato and Sent him to Space
Our Storytime Ritual
I’m not the most creative person. But I’m a practical father and husband. I have two little rioters at home, ages 4 and 2, respectively. Like many families, we have our own nightly routine to put the kids down for bed: bath time, brushing teeth…. you know the drill.
And story time is an integral part of that ritual. It doesn’t matter which rooms the kids end up sleeping in (that’s a work in progress), because we all bunch up together in my wife’s and my bed for story time. My family crowds around me as I hold up a book for all to enjoy. In that moment, I’m the most cherished member of the family (second only to our dogs, Chalky and Pudding).
Story time is pretty regimented. My daughter gets to ask for one story and my son gets to request another. And then the storyteller gets to pick one too. Then it’s lights out.
Over time, my little ones have developed a fine repertoire of their favorites: Grumpy Monkey, Room on the Broom, Bears in the Night, and other classics. But occasionally the existing collection can get stale (typically for my wife or me, because kiddos at their age can listen to the same thing on repeat almost forever).
Mixing Things Up
One night, I decided to mix it up a bit. So I concocted an adventure story about a little walrus named Wollie. I had absolutely no plot designed in my head, so pulled a Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects) and improvised a tale by looking at various objects around the bedroom for ad hoc inspiration.
One such object was my model LEGO Saturn V rocket. And from there, Wollie the Walrus began life as a curious little potato-of-a-character who wanted to see the Moon. I didn’t think much of it that first night, but it turned out that Wollie the Walrus was a hit with my kids. The next few nights in a row, they exhausted their story quotas with the same Wollie the Walrus request.
