Maretha Botha Author Spotlight

Maretha Botha has an Italian background. She loves espresso, and she loves pasta- just with olive oil and a bit of grated cheese, or a tasty Pasta Vongole with a few clams, cheery tomatoes and olive oil-this is an easy dish when she is busy illustrating and stopping to cook a fancy meal for hubby, might destroy the image in her head.

However, when she hits a blank-either with illustrating or writing the next big adventure-gardening gives a welcome break, taking photos of what the garden has on offer or simply getting down and doing some digging. A variety of bulbs, especially blue bells are great inspires in Spring, and rose are in a class of their own!

She prefers writing for children between 9 and 14 years, but “even better readers in this age group still like to see a few pictures of their favorite character,” she says. With that in mind, here are a few illustrations from the fourth book in Fauna Park Tales, called “Trails and Trials: An African adventure, as well as a book description.Four trails one destination, “Trails and Trials: An African Adventure”, “Fauna Park Tales” 4, is written from four different viewpoints, combining four smaller books into a complete book of 148 ages-each with its own title and subtitles, illustrations, descriptions and footnotes of foreign words-based on “African Adventures of Flame, Family, Furry and Feathered Friends”, a Harper Collins Authonomy Writers’ Website Gold Medal Winner.

Life continues to take strange turns for Flame, a working dog on a free-range cattle farm. He and three of his furry friends follow the trail of Tall Leader and his gang of poachers into the desert, after they kidnapped their beloved orphans and stole all the villagers’ cattle. To follow their enemies’ trail, the brave friends jump on and off trains, sleep under the stars, and find friends and foes while on their dangerous mission. Their loyal feathered friends-a martial eagle and a female eagle owl-are their scouts, helping them whenever they get lost, which is often. All the characters-both human, and furry and feathered-strive to reach the last waterhole at the Tukani River as soon as possible. Here, a cattle stampede, heroic deeds, finding long-lost family and solving secrets happen in quick succession.

“Hope’s Memories”-is a backstory summary of book three, “The Orphans’ Plight: An African Adventure” and gives the reasons why Flame and his friends are on this risky mission. Young and old will enjoy reading more about the African desert, how to survive its harsh climate and appreciate the importance of friendship, especially when facing difficult challenges.

Some illustrations below.