March 5, 2026
Nature Done Wright
Incorporating the Celery Farm and Screech Owl Companion blogs
AMAZING COLORING BOOK
One of my favorite places, next to the Celery Farm, is the country of Belize in general and the village of Crooked Tree in particular.
Belize is a developing country, and tourism is a major industry. A couple of friends of mine, DeeDee Burnside and Georgina Thomas, got the idea of doing a coloring book for the younger children of the Crooked Tree School after hearing how some of the boys like to shoot birds with their slingshots.
(A wonderful account of this is on Diane Brown's "Oak in the Seed blog. Here is the link to that post.)
The two women decided to help the children realize that hurting the birds was not just a bad idea, but that in the long run learning about the birds would be far more beneficial to them and the nation's tourism industry than stoning the birds.
DeeDee did the drawings, and Georgie got her church to handle the printings costs.
They will deliver the coloring books — along with several pairs of binoculars for these schoolchildren (read Diane's post on that here) — when we go to Belize next month.
Click "Continue reading…" to see one of the wonderful illustrations from the book. Feel free to print it out, color it yourself and send it to me. The winner will win something or other… and no fair using a clay-colored Crayola.
4 comments
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Deedee, I LOVE it! Be sure to copyright the illustrations. You can publish this! Sell it through Audubon! or Sierra Club, for kids! Great to help change the attitudes of the kids in Belize. Using the slingshots would be different if they needed to hunt for food. I would like to see this get more exposure. Not just because of the book and illustrations, but because of the whole ecological message and story to change an attitude one kid at a time, then village, then country. Fantastic! Pam
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There is no link to the rest of the book… but not a bad idae.
Jim -
Great idea for a charitable project, and great illustrations by my friend Deedee!
(I couldn’t find the link to view the rest of the book, however.)
Gene -
Hope the children of CT use them well. Long live the birds of Belize and the people who protect them. (And thanks for the links!)
Enjoy your journey!





4 comments
Deedee Burnside
Deedee, I LOVE it! Be sure to copyright the illustrations. You can publish this! Sell it through Audubon! or Sierra Club, for kids! Great to help change the attitudes of the kids in Belize. Using the slingshots would be different if they needed to hunt for food. I would like to see this get more exposure. Not just because of the book and illustrations, but because of the whole ecological message and story to change an attitude one kid at a time, then village, then country. Fantastic! Pam
Jim Wright
There is no link to the rest of the book… but not a bad idae.
Jim
Gene Freyer
Great idea for a charitable project, and great illustrations by my friend Deedee!
(I couldn’t find the link to view the rest of the book, however.)
Gene
djbrown
Hope the children of CT use them well. Long live the birds of Belize and the people who protect them. (And thanks for the links!)
Enjoy your journey!