I was so excited when my friend Neighboring Wild (@nbwild) sent me a link to his blog showing capybaras and other animals reading my book, Celeste and the Giant Hamster! Look how cute little Harry is in the photo above. He even has a little tuft of hair on his [...]]]>

Harry the Capybara

I was so excited when my friend Neighboring Wild (@nbwild) sent me a link to his blog showing capybaras and other animals reading my book, Celeste and the Giant Hamster! Look how cute little Harry is in the photo above. He even has a little tuft of hair on his forehead just like I do! Of course he’s still a baby so the zookeeper has to read the book to him. Plus it might be scary a little for a baby capybara to read alone.

The blog is in Japanese but even if you don’t understand the words, the photos are priceless.

Don’t forget to pick up your own version of Celeste and the Giant Hamster either on Amazon or here.

Table display for Celeste and the Giant Hamster

As hard as it was to pull myself away from Caplin for a whole day, I spent this past Saturday at a book festival in Georgetown, Texas. It’s coming up on the holiday season and it seemed like a good idea to get [...]]]> Owner’s Blog

Table display for Celeste and the Giant Hamster

As hard as it was to pull myself away from Caplin for a whole day, I spent this past Saturday at a book festival in Georgetown, Texas. It’s coming up on the holiday season and it seemed like a good idea to get Celeste and the Giant Hamster out in the public eye. This is the first book festival I’ve ever attended, either as an author/participant or as library patron, even though I am an avid reader. I paid my twenty bucks and got my own table, shown above.

Sadly, the book festival people refused to allow Caplin to come, even for an hour or so, to entertain the festival goers. That was a mistake on their part because Caplin would have really livened up the place! Instead I had to use some stand-up cut-outs of him as surrogate capybaras. (I got the standups made at PartyStandups.com. If you’d like a Caplin standup, drop me a comment and let me know what photo you’re going to use so I can send you the full resolution image.)

The real Human Celeste and the fake Caplin Rous

That worked out okay but what I didn’t realize is that I should have marked each of the three stand-ups–one of baby Caplin, one of Caplin at four months and one of adult Caplin–as all being life-sized. Instead I had to tell everyone that when they came up to my desk. Maybe that actually worked better because it was fun to see their expressions of astonishment. (Although they would have been even more astonished by the real Caplin Rous.)

Celeste, my granddaughter and the impetus for writing the book, came and spent a little time with me. But mostly she went to the other book festival activities like the magic show and story-telling. She and the other kids seemed to have a great time. But the meet-the-authors part of the festival was tucked away in a room upstairs and there were no activities up there. For example, a live capybara activity would have been great. Or they could have just had short book-readings. Or they could have had authors talking to kids about what it is like to write.

But, alas, the meet-the-authors section was not well attended. Nevertheless, I had a great time. I met some interesting people, gave out a lot of cards for this blog, talked about capybaras to everyone, and had interesting discussions with some of my fellow authors.

I also gave away many copies of the capybara coloring pages and some kids even colored them at my table (I colored two myself!). If you colored one of the pages, please send me a scan of it to post here, you can use the Contact tab on the left sidebar. It would be great to see your artistic endeavors.

The Meet-the-Authors room at the book festival.

And I learned that Georgetown, Texas has a totally awesome library. It has wonderful open stacks, great art in the hallways and sculpture outside, an actual café in the library with great food. But the best part is the children’s section. It has a South American jungle theme with murals painted on all the walls.

Mural including a capybara in children's section of Georgetown library

Please notice the capybara peeking out of the grass near the bottom left corner. How great is that? Of course, whoever painted it had no idea how large capybaras are because that one would be a midget. Or maybe the jaguar is a giant. Or maybe nothing is drawn to scale. At any rate, I would love to do a book reading / capybara encounter and have Caplin in front of that mural. I donated a copy of the book to the library and gave them one of Caplin’s cards. Hopefully they’ll contact me about it.

Last Friday my owner and I took a quick trip down the the Kyle Public Library to see if they were interested in us doing one of our book reading/capybara encounters.  Before the library opened, I met with some new friends, Shirley Bauder and her [...]]]>

Me with Chelsea and Cayla at Kyle Library

Last Friday my owner and I took a quick trip down the the Kyle Public Library to see if they were interested in us doing one of our book reading/capybara encounters.  Before the library opened, I met with some new friends, Shirley Bauder and her two granddaughters Chelsea and Cayla. Shirley took all the photos you see in this post.  (Thanks!) I loved having the kids feed me blueberries, which are one of my very favorite treats.

When the library opened, they asked me if I could stay until 10:30, which is story time for the little kids. Well, we weren’t very prepared but then you don’t have to be when you have a cute animal like me around to provide the entertainment.

My owner got to talk a little bit about Celeste and the Giant Hamster, although it is really for an older audience than we had. And she gave a copy to the library so that all the local kids can read it. Plus we got invited back for an official book reading/capybara encounter. We still have to pick a time and date for that. I will let y’all know when it is settled.

This brings me to a point:

If you would like to have me and my owner visit your local library or your classroom, just drop us a line via the contact button on the left sidebar. We love teaching people about capybaras and rodents in general. If you are a 3-5th grade class and have read my book, I would LOVE to come and talk to you. (My owner needs constant positive feedback or she gets all paranoid that no one likes the book.)

I heard on the news today (boring but my owner watches it for some reason) that Judge Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina supreme court justice in US history. She and I have something in common: I made a first for capybaras today. I was [...]]]>

Me interacting with fans at the Buda Library

I heard on the news today (boring but my owner watches it for some reason) that Judge Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina supreme court justice in US history. She and I have something in common: I made a first for capybaras today. I was the first capybara in all of history, probably anywhere on the planet to attend a book reading at a public library.

We had a whole entourage to go to the library. First there was me. The event was actually billed as a book reading / capybara encounter which wouldn’t be anything but a book reading without the capybara would it? My owner also came because she had to do the reading part and she also serves as my chauffeur. Then my friend Clarissa, who is 13, came to be a “capybara handler.” I think she was really more crowd control. And Elizabeth, Clarissa’s mom, came to take photos. Lastly, Rick, my male human came to do the video. Wow, that was a lot of us. I was a bit worried that there were going to be more of us then them.

We got to the library and almost immediately ran into some people who had come for the book reading. That was a good sign. We got set up in our room off to the side of the main library. The floor in there was slick but my owner brought one of my beds for me to lie on and they pulled a couple of mats in from outside so I could walk more easily. Still, I felt uncomfortable in there so I dragged my owner back outside where we ran into more and more people coming to see me. I put on my best face. The sun sparkled off the sequins in my harness about which I got many, many compliments. Thanks to Mansy OLeary who decorated my harness for me I really feel like a star when I wear it.

Some of my fans at the book reading

The official capybara encountered started when we went back inside. My owner gave all of the kids blueberries and let them come up to pet and feed me. That was a good part because I love blueberries. Then she told them all about me, capybaras, and rodents in general. Mostly that part went well. The kids and adults asked a lot of good questions and I think my owner answered them all truthfully.

I listened carefully and I don't think she messed up much

For the reading, my owner started at the part when Celeste the Cat meets up with little calico Ruby and ended where Tiger gets knocked off the back of the capybara. Doesn’t that just make you want it to figure out what happened in between? I think most of the kids were pretty interested too but a lot of them were really too young for the book. And the room was PACKED, spilling out the back door and into the library proper. I have to say, there was some childish restlessness. Being a little restless myself, I stood up and put my paws on my owner’s lap and then I licked her face. People loved that.

I look bigger when I stand up

Me giving my owner a kiss during the book reading

At the end the library people served lemonaid and brownies and everyone poured outside where there was more room. A long line formed of people who wanted to pet me or get their photo taken with me. I would only stand still for a treat. I think everyone got to pet me and feed me and I am sure everyone came away thinking that we capybaras are wonderful animals.

If you would like me to appear at your school or library and you live in the Austin/Buda area, use the contact button to send me an email. I had a great time and I’m sure I can drag my owner to at least a couple more of these things.

Book Type: Non-fiction, quick overview Ages: 6-8

The range map in this book is probably its best feature.

Synopsis:

This book has 32 pages of large type that include [...]]]> Animals of the Rain Forest: Capybaras by Alexandria Manera
Steadwell Books
This is one of a series of Animals of the Rain Forest books.

Book Type: Non-fiction, quick overview
Ages: 6-8

The range map in this book is probably its best feature.

Synopsis:

This book has 32 pages of large type that include the following chapters:

• Range Map of Capybaras
• Quick Look at Capybaras
• Capybaras in teh Rain Forest
• What Do Capybaras Eat
• A Capybara’s Life Cycle
• The Future of Capybaras

Each section is a quick overview of 1-2 pages including a photo or diagram.

Owner’s Review:

The cover photograph is quite nice but most of the interior photos are not high quality.

The good thing about this book is that it doesn’t present any information that is wrong. The bad thing is that is that it is boring. I think it’s boring even for a young kid. For example, “A capybara’s habitat has a lot of water. A habitat is an area where a plant or animal usually lives.” Sure that’s informative and I understand that you have to explain the vocabulary to young children but couldn’t it be done in a more interesting way? There are numerous instances of this type of explanation.

Caplin’s Review:

I was too bored to listen to most of this book but I did find this sentence amusing: Some people believe that their [capybaras'] careful grazing helps to preserve their habitat. Those wild capys must be way different than me because I am not a careful grazer! Unless by “careful” you mean I only eat things that taste good and only as close to the roots as my big snout will allow.  I do make a decent lawnmower according to my owner.

Buda Public Library

You can’t believe the tension at my house this past week. My owner’s book, Celeste and the Giant Hamster, is out on amazon.com and people and animals are starting to read it. Since the capybara in the book isn’t really me, I didn’t think I would [...]]]>

Me reading Celeste & the Giant Hamster

You can’t believe the tension at my house this past week. My owner’s book, Celeste and the Giant Hamster, is out on amazon.com and people and animals are starting to read it. Since the capybara in the book isn’t really me, I didn’t think I would care much but I’ve gotten all wrapped up in the excitement too!

The first person we heard from who got the book was @alansmitheejp all the way in Japan! International audience right from the start! Then we got a photo of @WinstonPig, a very handsome tri-colored guinea pig, reading Celeste. Let me tell you, I stared at that photo for some time, thinking and pondering, pondering and thinking. A guinea pig reading is incredibly cute, no doubt about it. Could anything be cuter? That was a question I planned on answering.

Winston Pig reading Celeste & the Giant Hamster

I put on my reading glasses, spread the book before me and lay down in my favorite spot on the window seat. (The light is very good there for reading, by the way. I always think sunlight is the best but it has to be indirect and not too glaringly bright.) Then I started eeping. Eeping loudly. Finally my owner came in, saw my adorableness and grabbed her camera. (She can hardly stop herself from photographing me no matter what I do.)

When Neptune, Hello Pineapple and Sambal, who are all great friends of mine and my owner’s daughter’s guinea pigs, saw my photo and Winston’s, they wanted to test their own cuteness. They each had their picture taken with the book. They seemed to be taking turns. I guess they share better than I do.

Neptune

So now I can hardly wait for people and animals to send their pictures reading the book. Probably use the book cover or a page with a drawing is best, especially if the drawing is of the capybara or the capy-kittens. The cat drawings are okay but obviously you could see a cat drawing in a lot of books. Wouldn’t it be cool to have bunch of photos!

Hello Pineapple

Oh, my owner posted all the photos on amazon too. There is a place to upload “customer images.” Never noticed that before and not sure anyone else has either. But if you send me your photos I will put them up there too…course, you could do that yourself but if you’re as lazy as a capybara, you won’t.

Sambal

PS Even though I have my own book now, Capyboppy is still my hero and the world’s most famous pet capybara.

Sanjee (from @HotBMC)

@Smokey8

@srharris19's dogs Alfalfa & Buster Brown reading Celeste on a Kindle

@IamZorro with "Celeste" on Kindle

My little brother Dobby reading (or eating) Celeste

Dixie from Sacramento reading Celeste & the Giant Hamster

Roo of @jk_chinchilla reading Celeste

@elguapito reading Celeste and the Giant Hamster. What a cozy setup for an adorable dog!

Christy the Cat reading Celeste (Hope she's not mad about Phukat character)

Chimi from @jemmo reading Celeste and the Giant Hamster.

My grandpa, Captain, likes the book! Love you, Gramps!

Eric (aka Capybara) and Erica of the great blog www.MasterOfTheGrasses.blogspot.com

Cheeks the Guinea Pig from @mtlcritters snacking while reading

Cheeks looks like he's enjoying the book, his fur is poofed up.

Emily Cat saying "Keep your paws off my copy of Celeste and the Giant Hamster. I'll let you know when I'm done reading it."

Sheba the Pundit with Celeste and the Giant Hamster. "Why do the pages have to be so hard to turn?"

Sheba the Pundit reading Celeste and the Giant Hamster

Duds & Spuds or Rocko & Zorro. Rats get very caught up in pretty pictures.

Even a drawing of a capybara is bigger than most rats!

Rocko or Zorro or Spuds or Duds nose-to-nose with baby capybara illustration.

@GeorgeTheDuck reading my book!

@GeorgeTheDuck can't pull himself away from the book!

Lauren Thompson's cat Tofutti reading Celeste

@LouPeb waiting for his owner to start reading to him

Three stuffed animals (including an adorable capybara) owned by Martin Gobbin

Does Martin's cat know that she looks just like Celeste?