Ellie's Day at the Zoo

"Ellie's Day at the Zoo" is the story of Ellie and Carol, who head to the local zoo for a fun day out. There they see all kinds of animals - birds, wolves, tigers, anteaters, leopards, red pandas, and so many more! As they see each animal, Carol tells Ellie a little bit about them.

Loaded with great pictures of the animals, it's as much a zoo picture book as it is a storybook. Almost as much about animal conservation as a story of a trip to the zoo, Ellie's Day at the Zoo offers fabulous photographs, and a rhyming story of a fun outing, ending with additional animal conservation details for those who want them. This book truly is for all ages of people who love animals!

If you've read either of Carol Story's books, you won't be surprised to learn that Dr. Suess was her favorite author of children's books. But that's not how she got started writing children's books of her own. Carol's mother had a habit of writing rhymes to mark special occasions; she always referred to them as "Rotten Rhymes". Over the years, Carol had picked up that habit and would write rhymes to commemorate special occasions of friends and family – retirements, weddings, relocations. She started writing Rotten Rhymes late in her career in the corporate world and continued to do it even more frequently after retirement.
In her retirement, Carol began volunteering for various environmental causes, long a passion of hers. One of her favorite volunteer jobs was walking the beach in Stratford, Connecticut for the Audubon Alliance for Coastal Waterbirds, where she helped monitor the piping plovers, least terns, common terns and American oystercatchers nesting there. She volunteered there during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 nesting seasons. She would share her observations with her mother, who had long been interested in birds. After her mother's death and at the suggestion of a friend, she wrote "Ellie's Day at the Shore" as a way to tie together her mother's memory with her volunteer work. "Ellie's Day at the Shore" earned a 5-star review from Readers Favorite. It was also featured in a blog for Audubon Connecticut, where Carol talked about her volunteer work, in Birds of New England, a birding column by Chris Bosak, and in an article in Hearst Media Connecticut.
In 2019, Carol began volunteering for Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, where she chats with guests and gives them information and insights about the many animal residents there, as well as a little about the history of the Zoo. She enjoyed writing "Ellie's Day at the Shore" so much that she decided to write a book about Ellie and Carol going to the Zoo. She collaborated on the project with Jack Bradley, another Zoo volunteer who is also a photographer. The result of that collaboration is "Ellie's Day at the Zoo", a picture book with a story. Carol is a volunteer Docent on the Zoo's Volunteer Council and is editor of and writes for The Howler, a newsletter for volunteers and staff of Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport. Carol lives in Connecticut.
Jack had been taking fabulous photographs of Zoo animals, even before he became a Zoo volunteer. He created the popular Connecticut's Beardsley Zoo Photography Group on Facebook, where people from all over the area post pictures they've taken at the Zoo. He shares his photographs with the Zoo for publicity purposes; he was instrumental in establishing the Zoo's juried photo contest; he hosts Zoo photography classes. Jack is also a volunteer Docent and is on the Zoo's Volunteer Council. He graciously provided all photographs for this book free of charge.