BONNYVILLE – Dressed in overalls, a bright red shirt, cowboy boots and a hat, author Abraham Keys read his debut children’s book “When Donkey the Chicken had Baby Ducks,” to an audience of children and parents at the Bonnyville Municipal Library on Thursday.
Keys, who goes by the name of Farmer Abe while at readings, is one of the characters in his recently published children's book that focuses on sharing messages of love and acceptance through a true story.
Donkey the Chicken, the book’s main character, is one of Keys and his spouse’s many backyard hens.
The children’s story follows Donkey as she searches the farmyard looking for eggs to take care of. The broody hen eventually finds a nest of eggs. After days of sitting on the eggs, ducklings emerge.
“At first Farmer Abe was worried. How could Donkey the Chicken love something that was so different from herself?” Keys read aloud to the audience. “But Donkey loved her baby ducks, and Farmer Abe realized something important... that love is love and we don’t have to be the same to love one another.”
The powerful message was based on real events, with the back of the book including photos of Donkey and her blended family of ducklings and chicks.
Speaking to Lakeland This Week, Keys shared the story of how rescue ducks they received were not sitting on their own eggs, prompting Keys and his husband to see if Donkey would take over the maternal role of incubating the eggs.
“I've raised chickens before, and I've hatched out guinea hen babies under a hen. So, I knew that hens can be really good moms, and they are very maternal,” explained Keys. “We tried it, and she was an amazing mom.”
Despite the vast differences and needs between baby ducks and chickens, Donkey was able to successfully care for and raise her ducklings alongside her chicks.
The first duckling, Donkey successfully hatched was named Quackers who was raised with its chick sibling Cheese. Even though Quackers and Cheese are different species, they have remained closely bonded, noted Keys.
Most recently, Donkey has hatched a group of seven chicks and eight ducklings, which are featured in Keys’ first self-published book and the first of five in an upcoming series.
“Just watching her as a chicken interact with the baby duck, they're so different and their needs are so different, but they bonded and learned to be what each other needed,” said Keys, describing what sparked the inspiration for the book.
Since publishing the book, Keys has received an outpouring of positive feedback from parents sharing the impact of the story on them.
The book has extra appeal for families not necessarily considered traditional.
“I started hearing their stories about how the book spoke to different people. And I started realizing that this message isn't for necessarily just kids, it's for everybody,” said Keys.
“In its simplicity, it can be just a cute story for a toddler that you read before bedtime. But it could also be for that family who understands the struggles of having to go through hardships because they're different.”
Readers from all walks of life have told Keys that they see their family represented in the narrative of Donkey the Chicken, sharing personal stories of adoption, their interracial family, foster care or learning that their child is gay.
“In a world where sometimes it's easier to tear each other down and point out our differences, I think it's so important to recognize that our differences don't make us less than or are not enough,” said Keys. “If a chicken can love a baby duck, we can all love each other.”
Local connection
While Keys lives and works in Maryland, U.S., he has deep roots in Bonnyville. Several of his cousins and aunts attended his books first Canadian book reading held at the Bonnyville library last week.
Keys’ mother, Hope Gaugler, grew up on a farm in the MD of Bonnyville where his grandparents, Ruth and Bill Gaugler, raised cattle and horses.
Keys’ mother married an American man from Montana when she was 18 years old. When Keys was four years old, his family would move to Paraguay where his parents worked as missionaries, and still do 28-years later.
During the author’s late teen years, he spent three summers in a row living with his grandparents on the farm.
“It was more than just my mom's home. It was where I, at one point in my life, called home too,” expressed Keys. “Getting to come home now, over 10 years later and to be able to share my story, has been so fun. Especially, getting to see family [that] I haven't seen for so long... Coming back is very special.”
Paperback copies of “When Donkey the Chicken had Baby Ducks” are available for purchase on Amazon. Keys’ second book about a dog named Moo Moo is set to be released before Christmas, later this year.
