TORONTO — Chari “Adelaide” Bauman is zany for zebus.
And to showcase her passion, she’s just published a children’s book, “Zara the Zebu.”
Zara, a miniature zebu, belongs to a young girl named Zeni, but the animal is skittish and afraid of getting close to her.
Impatient on making friends, Zeni does some planning, brainstorming and deep breathing, and likewise gets some sage advice from her grandma.
“The missing ingredient of things like pies and making friends is time and patience,” she says.
So Zeni patiently waits in her lawn chair, keeping herself entertained, until she eventually succeeds and is able to touch Zara.
“I THOUGHT that that would be a really cool basis for a story for kids’ about patience,” Bauman said.
“Myself and other people have so many experiences where you just have to sit there and do nothing and pretend you don’t care about them, so they’ll feel like you’re fine to be around.”
“I was really big on that as a teacher,” Bauman continued. “We did a lot of deep breathing and pauses and thinking about things. So the book’s a reflection of how I’ve tried to interact with kids and help them while I was a teacher.”
Bauman’s education training came from Allen Community College as well as Wichita State. She will soon graduate with her master’s in instructional design and technology from Emporia State.
Concerning the book’s aim, “I first just want to bring smiles to peoples’ faces,” she said. “I wanted it to be a happy story with really vibrant illustrations. … I tried to make a book that would be my favorite book.”
“Of course I want it to help kids understand patience,” Bauman said, “but I really want parents and others to understand that stopping and talking about the words, the emotions, and taking time to guess what’s going to happen next, or talking about what the character chose to do, those things are so valuable.”
“Of course I want it to help kids understand patience,” Bauman said, “but I really want parents and others to understand that stopping and talking about the words, the emotions, and taking time to guess what’s going to happen next, or talking about what the character chose to do, those things are so valuable.”
The decision to write a children’s book had been percolating for a while, Bauman noted, but once she began, things came together quickly.
“My dad always told me I should write a book, and I always thought about writing a book, but it’s kind of a big undertaking,” she laughed.
“The pandemic shutdown was actually when I decided to start it.”
