Mama Diaries

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Guest Author: Virginia Wright


Today, I have a special guest at my pad, children's author, Virginia Wright.  She has an adorable new book out, called Wild Animal Sounds.


Before I start the interview with her, I'll give you my quick review of the book:

Five stars:  Wild Animal Sounds is a book that phonetically recreates the sounds wild animals make. Animals include the elephant, warthog, bear, lion, and hippopotamus. Some animal sounds readers will be quite familiar with - "Ort-ort-ort-ort-ot-ot" of the sea lion. Others may be new - "Mooo-oooh-moo-ma-nuck" for the moose. Children are invited to repeat each sound after the animal makes it. At the end of the book, is a coloring page and a short quiz to see if the child can match the animal with its sound. The illustrations are cute and colorful, and compliment the text nicely. Wild Animal Sounds is a book children ages 3-7 would enjoy.



Hi, Virginia!  Welcome!  I love your new book, Wild Animal Sounds. It's so perfect for introducing animal sounds to kids.  The sounds in your book are unique. They are spelled the way they sound in real life. Where did you get the idea to do that? Sherry, I didn’t get the idea to spell the words the way they sound in real life from anyone or anything. I just knew that I wanted Wild Animal Sounds to be unique. When writing Wild Animal Sounds, I listened to hours of wild animal sound clips. I wanted to give my readers what I felt was a human interpretation of an animal sound. I would listen to animal sounds and then write down what I felt I was hearing.

You did a great job recreating the sounds! Would you give our readers some examples of the sounds in your book? Yes, I’d love to, Sherry.  I didn't want to simply say that an elephant trumpeted, so after listening to several animal clips of an elephant, I decided that the elephant sounds like “E-reow.” Another human interpretation of one of my animals in the story is the coyote that sounds like “Rup-rup-rup-aroo.” 

I didn't know a coyote could sound so cute!  Do you have a favorite animal sound?  My favorite animal sound, Sherry, is the sound a moose makes—“Mooo-oooh-moo-ma-nuck.  In Maine, we have moose in the wild. I live fairly close (a couple of hours) from the Canadian border. I felt that if a moose could talk it would have a little bit of a Maine accent and Canadian accent mixed.  ;-)

Haha!  Before reading your book, I really had no idea what a moose sounded like.  What other kind of animal sounds do you hear where you live? I hear many animal sounds where I live Sherry, I will name a few: Coyote, Osprey, Loons, Raccoons,  Deer, Seals, Grey Squirrels, and Chipmunks.

I noticed one of your sounds is a cockatiel.  Do you have any pets, or did you have any when you were a kid?  No, Sherry I do not have any pets.  I have owned dogs in the past though and loved every one of them!

Dogs make a lot of noise!  So do frogs.  My African clawed frog croaks all night, and makes it sound like I'm living in a jungle!  How did you decide which animals to use?  Sherry, I based which animals to use in Wild Animal Sounds partly on a few of the animals we have in Maine, but also based on animals I wanted to illustrate. The cockatiel was added to Wild Animal Sounds because of my granddaughter, Julie.  My son’s family has a cockatiel and my granddaughter asked me if I would put hers in my book.

I'm sure your granddaughter is thrilled about seeing her pet in your book!  Are you working on any other projects? Yes, Sherry. My latest WIP is titled: Timothy the Christmas Mouse. I am hoping (**fingers crossed**) for a 2015 release. I am also stepping away from the children’s genre at some point to finish a cookbook.

I can't wait to read the new Christmas book.  And a cookbook sounds good, too.  You've shared some excellent recipes on your blog and Facebook, so I'm sure you'll have some awesome recipes in the cookbook!  Where can we find Wild Animal Sounds:  My First Book? Thank you for asking, Sherry. Wild Animal Sounds can be found at many online book stores, I will list a few: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million .



Thanks for telling us about your new book!  I'm sure kids will love it!  Thank you, Sherry.


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Virginia will give an autographed copy of the book to one lucky person.  Just leave a comment for your chance to win!

85 comments:

  1. It sounds like a fabulous book for the kidlings... now if I can just borrow one for grandmothering purposes!

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    1. You can borrow Wild Animal Sounds through the lending library on Amazon if you have an Amazon Prime account.:-)

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    2. Maybe you'll win it, since you left a comment. It's certainly a good book!

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  2. That's cute she added the bird for her granddaughter. I had no idea what a moose sounded like either.
    Congratulations, Virginia!

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    1. Thank you, Alex! It was a good bit of listening to clips of moose sounds, some imagination and then writing what I felt I heard. :-)

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    2. I'm going to have to visit Maine just to hear what one sounds like in person!

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  3. Children love to interact and being able to make sounds as they read along will make the book fun to read.

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    1. Yes, I agree...children do love to interact. Thank you, Peaches.

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    2. I think kids will really enjoy imitating the sounds!

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  4. haha wow, never knew a moose would be maine/canadian in speaking. Congrats!

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    1. Pat, My interpretation solely. :-) I had fun with the moose sound, and my answer for Sherry.

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  5. Having just recently had a conversation about the noise a giraffe makes this sounds like a wonderful book.

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    1. From my research, I found that giraffe's are rarely heard. But when they are, they might moan during mating or hiss. The sound "MMM-ow" is my interpretation of the giraffe's greeting, perhaps a moan :-) and the "Pssshhh" a hissing or spitting sound.

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    2. I've never heard a giraffe make noise, either.

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  6. Hello Sherry, greetings and good wishes.

    This is real fun book probably the first of its kind and I am very sure the children will enjoy tremendously repeating these sounds. No doubt the book will be very popular among children and very successful.

    The interview was excellent and are you a professional in interviewing celebrities? Your questions were fabulous and you made this author reveal a lot about her personality.

    Virginia Wright is comfortable with your questions and she answers each one of the them with utmost simplicity and frankness.

    Excellent interview and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

    Best wishes

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    1. Thank you, Joseph. I am glad you enjoyed the interview.

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    2. I don't consider myself a "professional in interviewing celebrities," but I do enjoy interviewing authors. I'm glad you enjoyed the interview.

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  7. Dang, here's a book that makes me wish I still had kidlets to give books to.

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    1. Thank you. You could give to someone else that has kidlets or save for grandkidlets. :-)

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    2. Maybe they'll be grandkidlets to give this book to.

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    3. Sadly, my grand-kidlets are all in their teens. I'll have to hope for great-grand-kidlets.

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  8. What an interesting book. Makes me wanna rush to the bookstore.

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    1. Haha! This is certainly a cute book!

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    2. LOL! You can find Wild Animal Sounds on Amazon and shop from the comfort of your own home ;-)

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  9. Replies
    1. It's always fun to have another person visiting my pad. And she's such a nice lady!

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  11. That's a great idea Virginia, I can't believe it hasn't been done before.

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    1. I don't know of any other books like this. I think it was a great idea!

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  12. Sounds like a cute book! Sherry, thank you for visiting my blog. Nice to meet you! :)

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  13. Thank you DEZMOND, and back at you!
    Thanks, MICHAEL. Many sound books have sounds that are like others. Like what a monkey sounds like, but you would not see some of these sounds anywhere else, like the moose, as I wanted to make sure there were some unique sounds in Wild Animal Sounds.
    It is a cute book, DAISY. Thanks for stopping by.

    Thanks, SHERRY! I appreciate you asking me to be your guest author today.

    I will be happy to have you choose (1) commenter to give a signed copy of Wild Animal Sounds to. I just ordered books, and the winner will get their copy mid-March. Once you choose, please message me their postal mailing address.

    -Virginia :-)

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    1. So glad to have you here, Virginia! Your books are always so appealing to kids.

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  14. Wishing Virginia well on her book. Kids love animal sounds.

    Arlee Bird
    A to Z Challenge Co-host
    Tossing It Out

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  15. I agree with Arlee there, children love animal sounds! My almost-2-year-old niece learns 'meow' and 'woh-woh' before she learns 'cat' and 'dog.' Love what Virginia said about the elephant's sound instead of using just 'trumpet.'

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    1. That the animal sounds are spelled how they sound is what makes this book unique.

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    2. Thank you, Claudine. I agree with you and Arlee! My 5 yr old granddaughter loves having me read this book to her. She giggles when she hears me read the sound, and giggles ag s in when we repeat the sound.

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  16. Excellent interview Sherry, Good luck Virginia with your book.

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  17. This looks like such a cute book for children. I'm pleased to meet Virginia.

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    1. Virginia's other book, Bzzzzz What Honeybees Do, is also a great book.

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    2. Thank you, Medeia! Pleased to meet you.

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  18. I bought this book for my grandson and he absolutely LOVED it. It is very cute and unique.

    Nice interview, Sherry.

    Dennis Higgins

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    1. It certainly is, Dennis. Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. Thank you for buying Wild Animal Sounds for your grandson! So happy he LOVED it!

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  19. There are a lot of noisy animals...and not many books about it. This one sounds like a lot of fun!

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    1. Hi Stephanie, I tried adding a few animals that are overlooked in sound books.Thank you for your comment.

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  20. Reminds me of a book we have for my daughter called Where's My Cow. Except it goes into the sounds different characters from the author's (Terry Pratchett) main series.

    Your book sounds cute! I'll have to check it out.

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    1. Hi Loni, I am nit familiar wih that book.Thank you--I would love to have you check it out.

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    2. Where's my cow sounds like a cute book, too.

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  21. Congratulations! Good luck Virginia with your book.

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  22. ha. that is pretty cute...and i bet the kids have a blast making all the noises...that coyote sound is def pretty cool...

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    1. Thank you, Brian! My granddaughter giggles her way through Wild Animal Sounds.

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    2. It's definitely a fun book for kids!

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  23. This book sounds like such fun! I love the different sounds and I bet kids will have a blast repeating them. Loved the interview too! Best of luck to Virginia. :)
    ~Jess

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    1. Thank you, Jess! I am glad you loved the interview. I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and comment.

      -Virginia

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    2. Glad you enjoyed the interview!

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  24. Great interview! Virginia's book sounds so cute. I can imagine lots of kids having fun while reading it. How cool that she illustrated it as well as wrote it!

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    1. I wish I had the talent to illustrate my own books!

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    2. Thank you, Heather. I illustrate all my own books. I also illustrated the cover for Steampunk Alice by Dennis Higgins. ;-)

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  25. Great interview. Congratulations to Virginia!

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  26. Yes, but does it answer the eternal question: what does the fox say?

    Kidding aside, this sounds like a great book for kids. I would have loved to have known what a moose sounded like.

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    1. I purposely left the fox out of this book. ;-) Thanks for stopping by to check out the interview Sherry did with me.

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  27. This is really interesting, love to read this book :)

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    1. Thank you and I would love for you to read Wild Animal Sounds.

      http://www.amazon.com/author/virginiawright

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  28. Very interesting. Wild animal sounds is an excellent idea for a book.

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  29. Great post. I always love it when authors let us in on their creative process.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. It is always interesting to learn the story behind the story!

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    2. Thank you...so happy you stopped by from London for the interview. ;-)

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