Animalium
By: Nathan MacNevin
Hello students, I am very happy that you are reading this book with your teachers and classmates. As a grade six student at West Royalty Elementary School, Nathan MacNevin shared this important story about democracy with us. Democracy means you and all of the people get to choose our government. This government needs to work together to make decisions to help all citizens. We have a democracy here in Prince Edward Island and that’s how I became your Premier. All people have a voice, that means you too! Nathan shared his voice with us through the creation of this book. You may become Premier someday, or help your community in a different way. Whatever you choose, always remember you have a voice and it is always important to share that voice. I hope you have fun reading this book and that you learn something new too!
Honourable Dennis King Premier of Prince Edward Island
From all around the kingdom, the animals gathered. From near and far, animals of all shapes and sizes gathered at the Rainforest floor. Soon after, King and Queen lion appeared from the curtain of vines that swept the canopy of the Rainforest. They both held up a massive paw, signalling for silence. A hush swept the crowd. The queen cleared her throat. “Animals of the Kingdom,” she announced, “It has become clear to us that we can no longer rule the Kingdom.” An eruption of gasps came from the shocked gathering. “What about your heirs? Do you not have a child who will become the new ruler?” inquired a cheetah. “Ah, yes,” the King spoke up, “We have decided it is not beneficial to the animals of these lands if we remain in a monarchy. That means that we will not have a King and Queen, but a new system to make sure the Kingdom’s animals have a better way to resolve issues.” 2
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“What is this new system?” said one parrot. “We have a speaker who will explain it.” Just then, a monkey emerged from the vines. It was Molly, the royal speaker. “The new system is called democracy,” explained Molly. “It means that instead of a King and Queen, we have a prime minister. The prime minister will be chosen by voting on one of the animals that wants to become prime minister.” The crowd of stunned animals began to stir, then gave nods. “Okay, that sounds like a good idea,” exclaimed a black bear. Soon, all the animals understood the new system, and to close the meeting, Molly exclaimed, “Tomorrow, we will figure out who will be able to run for Leader of Animals. Each region - Sahara, Rainforest, Woodland and Urban - will pick an animal to run for Leader of Animals.
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After we pick the animals to represent each region, we will vote on the animal that we want to win.” The next day, the animals again began the trek to the Rainforest, having already picked the leaders of their region. For the Rainforest, Polly the parrot was picked. The animals of Urban region picked Dan Dog, and the animals of the Sahara picked Elias Elephant. Lastly, Woodland animals picked Beatrice Bear. All of the candidates made their way to the stage and stood behind their podiums. Molly the royal speaker began to speak. “Animals of the four regions, welcome to the debate, where the candidates that will be running for Leader of Animals will tell us what they will do for the four regions and their inhabitants.” Molly pointed to Elias Elephant, motioning for him to speak. Elias was laying face down on his podium, snoring. Polly the parrot flew up to Elias’s enormous ear, drew in a deep breath, and screamed: “WAKE UP!”
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Elias jumped in the air and sputtered around, knocking over banner and flags and his prized jar of peanuts before saying, “Um..uh...basically ... I.... more peanuts?” The elephants in the audience roared a loud honk of approval. Molly held a finger to her mouth, motioning for the silence of the elephants. Polly Parrot hopped up to the podium, and began to talk. “I promise to make sure that the food in the Rainforest is tip-top and that there will be more seeds for my fellow parrots. Any questions?” “Yes!” chimed in a tiny voice from the very back. It was Monat Mouse. “What about the Urban animals, and the other regions besides Rainforest?” It was a good question. Polly had a look of confusion, then realization, then embarrassment. She apologized that she had forgotten about the other regions. “Um, yes for all the regions too.” she corrected.
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Next was Dan Dog of the Urban region. He drew himself to the full extent of his small dog height, and plodded over to the podium. He climbed on the podium and cleared his throat. “I Dan Dog, of the Urban animals, hereby pledge to - SQUIRREL!!” and Dan was off like a lightning bolt, bounding after Sandy Squirrel, who clambered up a tree. The animals merely watched as Dan made countless attempts to climb up the tree. All of his attempts ended with him falling down. As the animals mused at the sight of Dan’s fruitless attempts, Beatrice Bear cleared her throat. The animals snapped to attention. 8
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“I promise to you, animals of all ways of life, to hear your pleas for help, and take action on those pleas. I promise to open trade with the neighboring kingdoms, making sure that we can get and hold a steady trade on all of the crops we grow. This means that the scavengers and harvesters will have more food for their contribution to the trading fund,” she announced to the crowd of stunned animals. The scavengers and harvesters of the land quickly clapped their paws and beaks. Beatrice Bear continued. “Many animals do not have houses, and sleep in the rain. This saddens me as much as you. So because of this, I promise to start a project that will build houses and places for these animals to stay, so that they will be safe and warm. After all, what is our motto? Simul Et Semper, which means - united together always, never alone. Isn’t this our way of life, to help others as they help us? That is the very thing that the kingdom was based on and it will be the foundation of our government and our country, called Animalium!” A massive roar came from the crowd of ecstatic animals, roused by the speech. Scores of rhinos, elephants, monkeys, birds, tigers, mice, eagles and every other animal under the sun shouted out cries of happiness and cheered. Beatrice Bear smiled, and stepped down from the podium. 10
“Remember to vote at the stations tomorrow morning,� Molly the royal speaker screamed over the noise. The next day tons of animals piled into the booths to vote. The elephants had to have the smaller animals get a voting ballot for them because they couldn’t fit through the door. Eventually, by midnight, the last vote had been cast, and the badgers could finally get to work counting the many ballots. 11
The badgers took two days to tally all the ballots. By the third day, Animalium had its first Prime Minister, the leader of all animals. That day a formal meeting was called and once again all the animals of Animalium piled into the rainforest. The candidates, except for Dan Dog, who was still chasing the squirrel, took their podiums. An excited chatter hung in the air. After a few minutes, the King, Queen, and Molly walked through the curtain of vines and sat down. The head badger, Breton, came from the right curtain and cleared his throat loudly. The chatter began to die down before the whole body of animals fell silent. “Thank you,” mumbled Breton, before raising his voice. “We gather here on this historic day to announce Animalium’s first Prime Minister. We have never before had an election, so we will mark this day as the first step in Animalium’s history as a nation. Without further ado, let’s announce the winner.”
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“With a total of 12,187 votes - almost 80% of the population the first Prime Minister is... Beatrice Bear.� Cheers erupted from the jubilant animals and Beatrice Bear joined with them. The other candidates came over to congratulate her and even Dan Dog stopped his attempts to climb the tree. The jubilation carried on into the night. Ever since that sacred day, everyone in Animalium has been happy. Animalium was the first of the kingdoms to adopt democracy, but fellow nations soon followed. Eventually, most of the kingdoms put a democratic system in place. For the next millennium, Animalium was run by, and never wavered in its belief in, democracy.
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Nathan MacNevin was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, where he currently resides. He enjoys playing baseball in the summer, reading during the winter, and studying the violin throughout the year. Nathan names his parents as the cause behind his love of both reading and writing.
The End Book Designer: Kwunsuk Lee
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