Zoe's Groovy Birthday Gift: A Ukulele Tale

My First Children's Book is Now Available

I’m so thrilled that my children’s book Zoe’s Groovy Birthday Gift: A Ukulele Tale is available now on Amazon and additional eBook platforms. This is a fun, rhyming story that follows Zoe on an adventure as she learns all about the ukulele she receives as a birthday gift.

I wanted to write a story that would express the joy I have for the ukulele and that would appeal to children, especially those who are new to the ukulele or who are curious about the instrument.

This story of Zoe, which starts out with her birthday party, will encourage kids to learn the fun of making music, the power of self-expression and creativity, the importance of gratitude, and the joy of friendship.

I had so much fun creating colorful illustrations for this book, using vibrant, highly pigmented India ink and digitally editing each image so it would look as best as possible once printed in the book. I’m so happy with how it turned out.

Colorful illustration and excerpt from Zoe’s Groovy Birthday Gift: A Ukulele Tale.

I thought it was very important to include a “Groovy Guide to the Ukulele” at the end of the story so that kids could learn even more facts about the ukulele, understand musical styles and genres mentioned in the story, view and identify the different parts of the ukulele, and see the differences between the different sizes of ukuleles.

Parts of the ukulele, illustrated by Susan Montgomery and included in Zoe’s Groovy Birthday Gift: A Ukulele Tale.

I created an additional learning resource that is available on my website that features 5 famous ukulele players along with key facts about them. In this “Groovy Guide to Famous Ukulele Players”, I illustrated each player! This resource is perfect for home or in the classroom. You can read more about this in the post on my website about the book here.

Zoe learns about famous ukulele players like George Harrison.

I look forward to sharing this book with others and hope that children can see how much fun the ukulele can be. This is available in eBook and paperback.

This is the tenth book I have self-published but my first children’s book. I was always a little intimidated about entering the children’s book arena, but I’m so glad I jumped right in. I just wanted to share this story of Zoe with everyone! If you would like to view all my books, you can check out my Amazon Author Page here.

Would you like to see the book in its entirety? I have created a Read aloud of the book on my YouTube channel. You can view that here.

If you have any questions, just let me know. Did you learn to play an instrument when you were younger? Was it a joyful experience or one that you dreaded? Do you still play today? Let me know in the comments!