Clara Carrot Tired Of Being Orange

By Carol Dobkin

Clara Carrot feels the need for an adventure. Her dear friend Flutter, a beautiful Cabbage-white Butterfly, and Frizbee, her beautiful cat, have the same desire for adventure, so together they make their plans. Clara from the start wants everything to happen quickly – she wants to grow quickly, wants to be different to other carrots, she doesn’t want to be orange!

The story follows Clara and Flutter in their adventure where they meet many new veggies including the King of Plantplots.

With the help of Flutter and the King, Clara discovers many things about her Carrot family and Flutter discovers something life changing for Clara.

Clara loves Flutter and relies on him to be a good influence on her. She sometimes gets too excited and needs Flutter to guide her down the right path and calm her down.

During her journey, her life changes dramatically and she makes many new friends along the way.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781035820764

Carol Dobkin

Carol was born on the 9th of November, 1951, in Chelmsford, Essex. She enjoyed school and ended up with some qualifications at the end of it all. Carol values her life lessons more than the ones printed on a piece of paper. Two beautiful sons, daughters-in-law, 5 grandchildren and in her words “the most wonderful, kind, honest, beautiful man”, her husband Mike. Truly they are living their Happily-Ever-After. Carol had always loved to write but it was only when she was in her late 60s that she started to write with passion and wanted to see her books published. Clara Carrot Tired of Being Orange is the first of her stories to be published.

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About the Author

Carol was born on the 9th of November, 1951, in Chelmsford, Essex. She enjoyed school and ended up with some qualifications at the end of it all. Carol values her life lessons more than the ones printed on a piece of paper. Two beautiful sons, daughters-in-law, 5 grandchildren and in her words the most wonderful, kind, honest, beautiful man, her husband Mike. Truly they are living their Happily-Ever-After.

Carol had always loved to write but it was only when she was in her late 60s that she started to write with passion and wanted to see her books published. Clara Carrot Tired of Being Orange is the first of her stories to be published.

Dedication

To Mike, my inside and out beautiful husband – without him, this book would not exist. He has believed in me all the way through from inception to the publication of Clara.

To my sons who listened intently as young boys to the veggie stories I made up for bedtimes and later for their support and encouragement as adults to share them with more children.

To my lovely mother-in-law, Maureen Dobkin, who shared her knowledge and insights into the world of writing and publishing, and offered encouragement and wisdom, thank you.

Copyright Information ©

Carol Dobkin 2023

The right of Carol Dobkin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781035820757 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781035821990 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781035820764 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

1 Canada Square

Canary Wharf

London

E14 5AA

Chapter 1

Tired of Being Orange

The sun was shining on Plantplots and all the vegetables were out making the most of the sunshine, the sun’s rays providing them with energy to grow and grow. It had rained two days earlier and the earth beneath Clara carrot’s roots was full of water.

Clara thought to herself, This is a fine day for a growth spurt – I shall soak up the glorious sun’s rays and my roots will drink up some of that lovely fresh clean water. She was excited to know that she would double in size over the next few weeks and hopefully be so beautiful that she would be placed in the Summer Village Fair and win first prize.

Clara had a lot of growing to do and she couldn’t wait to grow her lovely greens with beautiful white flowers. As cheerful as Clara seemed on the outside, there was something worrying her. She didn’t want to be orange – she wanted to be different. She wondered why she had to be orange. She knew that orange carrots were highly regarded and that orange carrots were full of beta-carotene pigment, so they couldn’t be anything else but orange. What she really, really wanted, was to be a purple carrot.

Clara had asked other carrots if they had any ideas about how to become purple, but most of them said she was silly wanting to be purple and to be happy with being orange – as orange was great!

Clara was becoming upset with the other carrots – they just didn’t understand her; therefore, she decided she would try to find a way to be purple. The sun was going down, so she would sleep now and when the sun rose in the sky tomorrow, she would pull up her roots and explore further into Plantplots and perhaps beyond – who knew what adventures awaited her.

Clara found it very hard to sleep but she knew that if she wanted to get all the information on how to be purple, she needed to get a good night’s sleep. So, she started thinking about her best friend, Flutter, a beautiful large white butterfly who had arrived at Orange Plantplots about the same time as Clara. They met in the Plantplots potting shed. Both of them were new to the world and they discovered that they shared an excitement and curiosity about what lays beyond Orange Plantplots.

Clara woke early after a not-so-good sleep and she started to pull up her roots to make ready for her search for a purple carrot. She wanted to ask the question, How can I become a purple carrot too?

First, she had to find Frisbee and Flutter. Frisbee would be sleeping – she loved to sleep. She had lovely, thick, long black fur with a white heart shape in between her two ears. Clara thought she was the most beautiful cat in the world. Flutter, being a large white butterfly, was one of many large whites that visited Plantplots. He had four brilliant white wings which had black tips to the forewings, which extended down the upper wings edge. Clara thought Flutter was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen –