A Visit with Deborah Ramos and her Zeal of Zebras

Hi everyone in Bloggerville. Sorry I’m a day late, the holidays and all kept me very busy.
Hope you all had a great New Year’s. We did here at the ‘V Zoo’. Now it’s time to get back to normal, so, we have a new guest with us to start the year off. Her name is Deborah Ramos and she’s written a book titled An Armory of Aardvarks, A Zeal of Zebras.

Hi Deborah! Welcome to the ‘V Zoo’. I personally love the title of your book and the cover. Thank you so very much for putting my family on the cover.

D: I’m glad you approve Zebee. I kinda like it too.

Z: So, Deborah, can you tell us about your book?

D: I think this book summary says it best.

An Aarmory of Aardvarks, A Zeal of Zebras offers an imaginative combination of learning and visual pleasure. It is designed to appeal to a wide range of ages, from five to adult. The language is simple and fast paced keeping the readers attention all the way to the letter Z. Included is a brief history of the group naming of animals and several fact-filled sidebars. Educators and parents can utilize Aarmory of Aardvarks, A Zeal of Zebras as a teaching tool to stimulate topics such as why animals live in groups, or how they behave within their environment. Children and students can do further research to discover more collective nouns, and challenge their creativity to come up with their own. Increase a child’s vocabulary, imagination, and desire to learn by stocking your shelves with An Aarmory of Aardvarks, A Zeal of Zebras, a must have for any bookstore, library, or classroom.

Z: Wow! This sounds very interesting. I bet all your reader’s young and not so young, will go away having learned lots about all of us animals. What got you writing about collective nouns?

D: I was writing a story about Africa, and in my research, I found a website that listed animals in alphabetical order, along with their group name. It sparked an interest, and I dug deeper. I thought it would be more fun to create a list of group names in alphabetical order. And the search began. It was fun for me, and I learned a lot about collective nouns and animals. Group names can bring to mind such interesting images, such as a prickling of porcupines; you can almost FEEL those, pokey, prickly quills.

Z: No thank you! So, what is your favorite collective noun?

D: It’s hard to say, there’s so many. But I think the most interesting one is an Escargatoire of Snails. I imagine a little snail party crawling in circles on a plate, oozing in an out of butter pats and garlic cloves. I love a Pandemonium of Parrots; can’t you just hear them squawking in the trees? What an image that conjures up.

Z: Okay, snails aren’t one of my favorites and parrots are just loud. Let’s move on. Are there collective nouns for people?

D: There are lots for people. My favorites are a Giggle of Girls, a Kiss of Vampires, a Ponder of Philosophers, a Worship of Writers, an Erudition of Editors, a Pod of Publishers, an Iamb of Poets, a Scholarship of Professors, a Number of Mathematicians, a Class of Students, a Wisdom of Grandparents, a Bunch of Hippies, and finally, a Faffing of Geeks. (to faff means to dwindle or act indecisively)

Z: I guess you could write a book using all of those as well. For now, where can our readers go to buy your book?

D: you can pre-order the book directly from the publisher, Windstorm Creative

Z: Where can we go to see more of you?

D: Anyone can visit me at either of my blogs. Backyard Safari and Stormymoon
I look forward to seeing you there.

Z: Thanks for stopping by Deborah. I hope you come back Sunday and go on my trip to the world zoos.

D: I thought you’d never ask! I will be there bright and early. I’m looking forward to it.

Z: Great! See you then!