Doofy Series
We are about to start a Doofy Goes to School series this summer, and I am excited for several reasons. Demand is the most obvious reason.
Everyone seems to fall in love with Doofy right away. He has a humble, down right lovable personality, but he's also a character who is relatable to many of us. So many of our readers have asked to see more from Doofy, how could we not?
The second reason comes from the teacher in me. I see at school what lessons are harder for young children to understand or just harder to accept. By putting Doofy in a school setting, he and his friends can be put in similar situations. Children are quicker to listen to an adorable cartoon character than to an adult trying to explain why things are the way they are. Sometimes all children really need is to understand why, but as the adult we have to get creative to get their attention. Doofy grabs their attention without even trying, making him the perfect learning tool.
My third reason is the local charm. That was something I was adamant about when we were publishing Doofy the Hippo? I didn't want to lose the local charm of the Birmingham Zoo. For the Doofy Goes to School series, I've done my research. I've gotten online and found the names of many of the animals found at the Birmingham Zoo, and in some cases, I was even able to find out a little about the animals' personalities. Using this information, I could put them into the role they were born to play, so to speak. I think it is a lot of fun, and I know the kids will love visiting the Birmingham Zoo and getting to see their favorite animals from the book live and in person!
It would be amazing to team up with the Birmingham Zoo someday, but that is easier said than done for a small town author. Maybe someday we'll meet up and find a way to work together on the Doofy Goes to School series. For now we'll just have to be happy with how perfectly the two go hand in hand. We'll keep our fingers crossed, though, just in case!
