SIR KAYE THE BOY KNIGHT BOOK 3

  LEGEND OF THE 

FOREST BEAST

by

  Don M. Winn

Genre: Children’s / Chapter Book / Medieval

Publisher: Progressive Rising Phoenix Press

Date of Publication: July 8, 2016

Number of Pages: 178

“The Secret Lives of Donkeys”

Guest Post by Don Winn

A donkey named Grumble has taken me on a wild ride, no pun intended. Work on the third Sir Kaye book, Legend of the Forest Beast, has been a great opportunity to develop non-human characters that play an important role in the story.

Horses, like Sir Kaye’s horse Kadar, have been a mainstay since book one, The Knighting of Sir Kaye. Book two, The Lost Castle Treasure, introduced falconry and a goshawk named Oriana. So what about book three? In book three, Grumble the donkey plays an important, and at times humorous, role in the story.

Of course, in order to write accurately about a donkey, I needed to do a bit of research. Much to my surprise, I have gained a new-found respect and appreciation for donkeys, so I thought I would share a few fascinating facts about them.

You may have thought, as I did, that donkeys are stubborn, less intelligent than horses, and weaker than horses of the same size. And if you thought that, then you’re in for a big surprise. Donkeys are more like the Clark Kent of the equine family, usually remaining unnoticed compared to the horse, but possessing some amazing abilities.

Donkeys can live for over 50 years and pound for pound, are stronger, sturdier and more resilient than horses. Donkeys originated in the desert part of the earth, northeast Africa to be exact, and accompanied the Romans when they invaded Britain in 43 C.E.

You may have noticed that donkeys have bigger ears than horses. There’s a reason for that. In the desert, where donkeys originated, they are able to hear the call of another donkey 60 miles away. That’s some incredible hearing! Their large ears also serve another purpose: air conditioning. The large surface area of their ears is filled with blood vessels just beneath the skin. When blood flows through their ears, it cools. Then the cooler blood circulates throughout the body—a very important feature to have in a desert environment.

You may be wondering how a donkey’s diet compares to that of a horse. Donkeys don’t just have super strength and super hearing; they also have super digestion. Since food is scarce in the desert, donkeys utilize 95% of what they eat. Their digestive system can break down seemingly inedible vegetation and extract moisture from food far more efficiently than most other animals. If you need fertilizer for your garden, a donkey won’t contribute many nutrients to enrich the soil—he’s used them all up himself.

Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn. If you were asked to cross a street with cars zipping by, would you? Well, neither would a donkey. Their reputation for being stubborn is actually because of their highly developed sense of self-protection. It is very hard to force or frighten a donkey into doing something it sees as contrary to its own best interest or safety. (If only people were that smart.)

To read the rest of Don Winn’s post about his donkey research, click here.

Don M. Winn is a multiple award-winning children’s author of ten picture books and three children’s novels. His Sir Kaye the Boy Knight® series of novels for independent readers include The Knighting of Sir Kaye, The Lost Castle Treasure, and Legend of the Forest Beast. Don’s picture books include The Higgledy-Piggledy Pigeon; Superhero; Twitch the Squirrel and the Forbidden Bridge; Shelby the Cat; Space Cop Zack, Protector of the Galaxy; and many others.

Don has been writing for over 20 years. After beginning with poetry, Winn moved on to writing children’s picture books. Almost immediately, his growing young readers begged for chapter books, which led to the creation of the Sir Kaye series. As a dyslexic himself, who well knows the challenge of learning to love to read, Winn’s goal is to write books that are so engaging they will entice even the most reluctant or struggling reader. Winn lives in Round Rock, Texas.