YEEK the EMU By Natalie Oyencarte Illustrations by Gain Nam
To Miss Debbie and the teachers and staff at ACS Doha International School who help us learn new things about ourselves everyday.
This book was inspired by the works of author Sheena Knowles and illustrator Rod Clement.
ACS Doha International School Doha, Qatar March 2013
There once were twelve emus who lived in the zoo. But this story isn’t about just any emu.
It’s about Yeek, the smallest emu in the zoo – even smaller than the meerkat named Susie Van Sue.
And Yeek being the smallest of all, wished – yes he wished – that he could be tall.
Early one day – before they opened the zoo – Yeek thought to himself, ‘I’d like something new.’
He thought ‘Anything tall would be worth a try,’ and just then a poster caught his eye.
It read, ‘Do you want to be tall? Do you want to go high? Do you want to go up, up into the sky?’ The fine print said the circus is where ‘a bird quite small could go high in the air.’
So the very next day Yeek was there – flying and tumbling through the air.
Suddenly Yeek stumbled and tumbled and fell. Who laughed the most, no one could tell.
Yeek rushed from the tent and ran back to the zoo. As he entered the gates, he began sobbing, ‘boo hoo.’
Once in the gate, Yeek dried his last tear The sight of giraffe gave him reason to cheer.
He asked if she would please lower her head. But giraffe just kept munching her breakfast instead.
To see eye-to-eye Yeek climbed up on a chair. He said to giraffe, ‘How’s the weather up there. When I stand next to you I feel so small. I would give anything if I could be tall.’
Just then a man walked into the zoo. He came to see tall animals and small animals too. When he spied the giraffe. He thought, ‘my she’s tall.’ And when he saw Yeek he thought, ‘How cute and how small.’
‘Of all the animals I’ve seen at the zoo, none of them are as interesting as you.’
While Yeek was not tall he learned on that day that he was quite special in his own small way.