HANNIBAL: The camel who longed to be special. Pauline Marshall is a retired teacher and counsellor from Christchurch. Having always had a desire to write for children she was inspired by a documentary showing the dromedary’s comical style of eating to write about the adventures of the bumbling Hannibal. The story is set in Northern Africa and follows the antics of Hannibal trying to impress beautiful Cleo, a female dromedary. He is unsure of how to go about this and tries to copy the ways of his two friends, a dung beetle and an ostrich – and also humans – but just looks silly in the process. Eventually he discovers something that changes everything. At the back of the book is a glossary of interesting facts about the creatures in the book pertinent to the story. Pauline is working on publishing a second book about the same characters, and a non-fiction book about the dromedary may eventuate.
Writer: Pauline Marshall