Fauna Park Tales

Flame and Hope: An African Adventure is the first book in the Fauna Park Tales series, based on the African adventures of Flame, family, and furry and feathered friends.

Gold Medal winner on Authonomy, supported by HarperCollins Publishers. A review/ excerpt from their children's editor states: "Maretha Botha has created a vivid and engaging world of animal characters, using clever and highly creative, animalized verbs such as Dolly Cat's 'whispurr'. The exploration of interrelationships between animals and birds is a successful topic in the children's literature genre; the author has produced some great personalities - the stubborn goat 'Plump-Grump' and the conceited 'His Handsomeness, King Rat', being two of my favorites."

Life takes unusual turns for a nomadic family and their animals, including a young pup born far away in the African desert. Due to sudden, strange events at their kraal, he is adopted by a free-range farmer to herd cattle in Molodi Valley.

The pup, whose Faunalang name is Flame, faces many a challenge to prove himself to more than one of his new family. Yet, in time, he grows into a strong and brave dog, making friends with many furry and feathered ones, who help him to keep a promise to his first mistress to care for and to protect young, old, and helpless bush creatures in their secret sanctuary - Fauna Park - within the farm’s boundaries.

One of his feathered friends is Hope, a shy bird with pink eyelids, who whistles stories about a tall leader and his gang of poachers, the ups and downs of life in the bush, Flame's clever and often, comical plans to banish foes to the Llokodi Hills, and why it is better not to break a promise to a stubborn goat.

Although many of these classic stories provide perfect bedtime listening to younger ones, all listeners will enjoy meeting various bush creatures who hope that all ends well when the sun goes down over the grasslands of Southern Africa.