The ZOOPENDOUS Surprise

I would like to have you meet Courtney. Courtney is a zoo keeper. She is a special zoo keeper because she get to take care of . . .

Mary & Ellen who live at Arkansas' Little Rock Zoo. Here the two lovelies are with Boots, Courtney's mom. And she is sharing a wonderful children's story with me today.

Boots wrote about a wonderful surprise that was happening at the zoo one day. And elephants being so interested of all around wanted to know what the surprise was all about. So Mary and Ellen keep trying to find out about this surprise from all their zoo animal friends. Of course I will not be telling you the surprise. . .you just don't do that! But I will say that I enjoyed sharing this book today.


Today I was able to let Emma (College Girl's sister) and Ashley (Nessa's daughter) share story time together.

Ashley loved reading to Emma. Passing on her love of books and the added joy of animals was a job well done!

Now I would like to share the background story with you for this book. Boots Hensel wrote this story to honor her daughter Courtney who was diagnosed with cancer at age 26. Courtney passed away Aug. 21, 2004 at age 27. During the last months of her life she shared her job and love of these animals with her mom. Boots felt she had to share this true story of Mary & Ellen with others and honor Courtney. I feel she did a fitting job.

Your can read more of her story at Dallas News and visit Boots at her site too! You can also download your own bookmark and color pages to go with THE ZOOPENDOUS SURPRISE.