Pussyraptor @ copyright 2004 Paul Olsen & Andrea Smith


Pussyraptor? What's Pussyraptor?? WHO'S Pussyraptor?

She is the most delightful and loveable children's character since Pooh bear. A sort of (very big) little girl dinosaur/dragon with the darling mentality of a two-year old girl. She grows magical berries for all her friends, and secretly takes care of them by giving them JUST the berry they might need. I created Pussyraptor in conjunction with Andrea Smith, a young, very bright, and delightfully wacky woman who lives in the middle of Kansas with her wonderful imagination and a huge dog named Lyra...who I think she should rename Toto, but what do I know? I have a complete book of stories about Pussyraptor and her crazy friends, plus another full-length book on the origins of all our Christmas traditions (that Pussyraptor's friends invent quite by chance, of course!) called, "A Pussyraptor Kris-must." This book is packed with rich, colorful imagery, and will make a perfect full-length animated feature for little ones (and big ones, too!).
By the way...the word "Kris-must" comes from the beautiful blonde Kris Kringle who took care of all the animals in the Black Forest, especially in the wintertime, when they needed extra help. Kris would dash here, and Kris would dash there, talking to herself: "Kris must feed the deer! Kris must take care of the rabbits!" Kris must do this, and Kris must do that...and so wintertime became known amongst all the animals in the forest as "Kris-must" time! This was the story told to the excited Pussyraptor who was looking forward to seeing the REAL Santa Poyyo on his flying toboggan!
Yay!
I am currently having Pussyraptor and her friends designed by Stephen Lewis, a top animator here in LA, and when we get all the characters "right" we will start on the illustrations, and I'll then make presentations to publisher's and to Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, and anyone else who is looking for top animated feature material that will become a seasonal and episodic animated classic. The illustrations for the children's books will be painted by Jerianne Van Dijk of Grass Valley...whose work I just love.
Below are some first sketches of the other characters:

 

 

 

 

FINGS

 

 

 

 

POYYO

 

 

 

 

DEETA

 

SARAH DACTYL

 

DONK!

 

 

MEERKAT
 
Pussyraptor will be an instant classic, and you will soonly see Pussyraptor this and Pussyraptor that all over the world. She is charming, she is sweet, she is simple and innocent, she is cute, and she is delightful...and...she is funny! An absolute darling, and I can't wait for her to emerge! Her friends are Donk, her inseparable woodpecker companion who perches on Pussyraptor's horn-thingies; Poyyo, a practical chicken who builds things; Deeta, a beautiful girl who keeps things organized amidst the charming chaos surrounding our characters; Fingers, an artistic raccoon; Meerkat, a zany, hyper meerkat who does everything 100 miles an hour; Sarah Dactyl, a very chic, elegant pteradactyl of "a certain age;" Speedbump, Pussyraptyor's pet glow-turtle; and the cider ducks, who raised Pussyraptor and make apple cider for one and all.
Here is the very first "establishing" story (meant to be read to children at bedtime):

The Clearing in the Forest

by Paul Olsen
© copyright 2004 Paul Olsen

 

DONK-DONK-DONK!
DONK-DONK-DONK!!!
Pussyraptor was sleeping with her head buried in the sand at her sleeping place by the Donking Tree in the forest, and woke up from the sound of Donk donking away at the Donking Tree early in the morning, as he did EVERY morning like clockwork, DONK-DONK-DONK! Only with her head in the sand, it sounded like "DNK-DNK-DNK!" In fact, Donk was Pussyraptor's personal alarm clock. He slept on her upturned tail, and was the very first creature in the forest to wake up. And you know what it's like to be the only one awake in the morning, don't you? You want everyone else to be awake, too, right?
Right.
So did Donk.
Pussyraptor pulled her head out of the sand, gave it a good shake, and yawned a BIG yawn, and stretched a BIG stretch. Oooohh! That felt good! DONK-DONK-DONK!
"More-rings, Donk-see," said Pussyraptor sweetly, looking up at him.
"DONK-DONK!" donked Donk.
Pussyraptor stood up and bop-toddled off, a little unsteadily, to tend her berries deep within the forest, which she did every day, bop, toddle-toddle, bop, toddle-toddle.
Once Pussyraptor was satisfied that everything was in order with her berries, she bop-toddled through the forest down to Deeta's house on the edge of the big clearing to get her watering can, her new ribbons, and her berry basket for the day; bop, toddle-toddle, bop, toddle-toddle, bop, toddle-toddle, BOP! This girl had rhythm! Donk had finally finished his morning donking, and alighted on Pussyraptor's horn-thingies to spend the day with her. They were inseparable.
When she got to Deeta's, Pussyraptor pressed her nose up to Deeta's window and snurfled against it, getting it all fogged up with her breath, snurfle-snurfle, leaving her nose-print on the glass. She looked inside, willing Deeta to wake up, SNURFLE-SNURFLE-SNURFLE!
Donk had a better way to wake Deeta, but when he tried it once, he got into Big Trouble because he donked Deeta's window and broke it! Glass went EVERYWHERE! Deeta threatened to turn him into a doorknocker if he ever did it again, so Donk kept his ideas to himself after that.
Deeta was snuggled up in her feather bed, all cozy under a huge comforter made of even more feathers given to her by Pussyraptor's good friends, the cider ducks, who raised Pussyraptor. Deeta's long, blonde hair peeked out from under the comforter.
Pussyraptor said, "Dee-ta!.wake-wakes!" at Deeta's window.
Deeta didn't move.
Pussyraptor shouted, "WAKE-WAKES!"
Deeta moved this time! As she woke up, Deeta saw Pussyraptor at her window, snurfling away, and smiled. She was "Deeta" to everyone in the forest, because Pussyraptor couldn't pronounce her full name.
Deeta threw off the comforter and looked at the window. Behind the glass was silly Pussyraptor snurfling away, smiling, with her horn-thingies twizzling and Donk trying to keep his balance. Deeta got up and opened the window. Pussyraptor smiled and poked her head inside, forgetting Donk was on her horn-thingies, and accidently drove Donk's donker into the window pane above, SPRONK! Poor Donk fluttered furiously, but he was well and truly impaled! Help!
Pussyraptor looked at Deeta and blinked her big blue eyes, *blink-blink* and said, "More-rings, Dee-ta!" *Blink-blink*
Deeta smiled at Pussyraptor and said, "Good morning, Pussyraptor! Are you waiting for your ribbons and your basket?"
Pussyraptor blinked and said, "Huh?"
Deeta smiled and said, "Ribbons? Basket?"
Pussyraptor nodded enthusiastically and went, "GWACK!" *blink-blink* Her horn-thingies twizzled around on top of her head and she smiled a big Pussyraptor smile, *blink-blink*
Deeta went outside to the porch and opened the tall cupboard containing Pussyraptor's ribbons and baskets. Hanging inside were seven colored baskets, one for each day of the week, and HUNDREDS of ribbons of every color there was! Pussyraptor withdrew her head from Deeta's window and bop-toddled around to the front of the house, leaving poor Donk helpless, fluttering and scraggling to try to free himself. Pussyraptor got very excited when she saw all the pretty ribbons glittering in the sunlight.
Deeta looked at the ribbons, picked out two, and said, "Yes, I think these ones will do nicely!" Pussyraptor blinked happily as Deeta tied the new shiny ribbons in great big bows on her horn-thingies and said, "There, Pussyraptor, you look VERY pretty today!"
Pussyraptor blushed and blinked several times, *blink-blink-blink* "Sank yoos..... bas-ket, Dee-ta?" said Pussyraptor.
"Oh! I almost forgot! Of course! Sorry, Pussyraptor! Let's see.....today is Tuesday, so it's the...pink basket!" Deeta handed Pussyraptor her pink berry basket. "Oh, and let's not forget your watering can!" Deeta handed Pussyraptor her watering can with flowers painted on it, and she was all ready to go. Pussyraptor smiled and said, "Sank yoos, Dee-ta!"
"You're very welcome, Pussyraptor!" said Deeta. Pussyraptor paused, and was thinking very hard of something. "What is it, Pussyraptor?"
"Poy-yo?" she asked.
"BAD Poyyo!" said Deeta, with a frown.
Pussyraptor tried to screw up her face into a frown like Deeta's, and then she said, "BAD Poy-yo!" and thumped her foot, THUMP! Deeta's whole house jumped, and all the ribbons came off their hooks, two windows broke, and Deeta's chimney came apart and bricks started rolling off the roof falling all over them.
"Duck!" yelled Deeta.
"GWACK-GWACKS?" said Pussyraptor, looking around.
"No, not ducks, Pussyraptor, DUCK!" More bricks came tumbling off the roof.
"GWACK!" said Pussyraptor, bricks falling everywhere. "Duck-ees....GWACK!"
"No, I didn't mean quacking ducks, I meant.......oh, never mind, Pussyraptor....but PLEASE try not to thump so much, you shake everything to bits! Now I'll have to get Poyyo to come and fix my chimney."
"Bad Poy-yo?"
"Well, I suppose he won't be so bad if he fixes my chimney," admitted Deeta.
"Hmf!" said Pussyraptor, and turned to go. She heard a commotion from the side of the house and peeked around the corner to investigate. It was poor Donk, fluttering and flappering and scratchering and pullering and.....
"GWACK!" gwacked Pussyraptor as she bop-toddled over to him. She grabbed hold of Donk and pulled with all her pullies. "GWACK!"
Nothing happened. She pulled even harder.
"GWWWAAAAAAAAACCCKKK!!!!!!!"
BOINK! went Donk, as he popped out of the woodwork, his eyeballs rolling around. Whew! He fluttered onto Pussyraptor's horn-thingies, and they bop-toddled off together.
Deeta looked around at the mess her house was in and started giggling. "When Pussyraptor thumps, everything comes apart!" she said, and started laughing at how silly Pussyraptor was.
Just then, Meerkat came racing up Deeta's front porch steps, screeched to a halt and tripped over, crashed into Deeta's porch swing, got to his feet quickly and surveyed the damage. "Wow!WhatAMess! Here,I'llHelpYouCleanThisAllUp!" Meerkat always talked a hundred miles an hour. He did EVERYTHING a hundred miles an hour! He wore a little rucksack filled with nuts that would give him energy, and he reached in his rucksack, gobbled a few nuts, shouted "Gwackadoo!" and raced around, ZOOM! SWISH! ZOWIE! putting ribbons back on their hooks---though they were now all mixed up---cleaning up the glass, stacking all the loose bricks in a neat pile, and making the place look almost good as new in about two minutes of frenzied tidying. "Right!That'sTakenCareOfThat!Now,I'llRunOverToPoyyo'sAndAskHimToComeOverHere QuickAndFixYourChimneyAndThenWeCan StartPlanningTheBig Picnic! Gwackadoo!"
ZOOM! Meerkat shot out of the house before Deeta could say "Shergonkle!" and raced across the clearing to Poyyo's tree by Lake, on the other side of the clearing.
SAW-SAW-SAW, BANG-BANG-BANG went Poyyo as he was building his treehouse. Meerkat screeched to another halt under Poyyo's tree, but just missed his stopping place and bumped into Poyyo's tree, hurting his head. "Ow-eee!" he muttered. He looked up and called to Poyyo, "Poyyo?"
BANG-BANG-BANG. "What?" said Poyyo, BANG-BANG.
"PussyraptorThumpedHerFootAtDeeta'sAndHerChimneyFellDown!" said Meerkat, huffing and puffing.
Poyyo stopped his banging and started laughing. He peered down at Meerkat. "We've got to DO something about Pussyraptor's thumping....she'll destroy the whole forest!" Poyyo chuckled, "Well, she certainly keeps ME busy! OK, Meerkat, let's go and fix Deeta's chimney, shall we?" and Poyyo climbed out of his tree.
As they walked across the clearing, Meerkat ran circles around Poyyo, describing Pussyraptor's thumping, and how all her ribbons came off their hooks, her baskets fell in a heap, two windows broke, and the chimney came down all over them when she thumped. Not to mention broken dishes all over the floor. Meerkat said, "WhyDoesPussyraptorThumpSoHard?"
"Oh, she can't help it, Meerkat....she just thumps when she gets excited or frightened. It's an involuntary reaction," said Poyyo.
"It'sAWhat?" asked Meerkat.
"It's an in-vol-un-tar-y reaction.....something she can't help doing...just like when you can't help getting so excited all the time," said Poyyo.
"Oh," said Meerkat.
Just then, they both saw a huge pile of sparkling, colorful ribbons lurching towards Deeta's. They could just make out a fluffy, ringed tail peeking out from under the pile. It was Fingers, the raccoon, bringing a new load of ribbons to Deeta for Pussyraptor. Meerkat ran up to the bundle of ribbons making its way across the clearing. "Fingers! IsThatYou?" said Meerkat, trying to peek through the mountain of ribbons.
"Mm-hrmfph ssiss mrrr, moo ringgwrong!" mumbled the bundle.
"What?" said Meerkat.
"MM-HRMPH SSIS MRRR, MOO RINGGWRONG!!!!" said the bundle.
"ICan'tUnderstandYou," said Meerkat, "You'reNotMakingAnySense! Who'sUnder There???" Meerkat prodded the bundle, prod-prod.
The bundle stopped, splonched down a little, and then........KAFLOWIE! ribbons went flying everywhere as the bundle 'exploded,' scaring Meerkat, who jumped back ten feet.
"OF COURSE IT'S ME, YOU DING DONG!" shouted Fingers, ready to strangle Meerkat. "Now look what a mess you've made!"
"IDidn'tMakeTheMess," said Meerkat. "YOUMadeIt."
"What!!??" said Fingers?
"ISaid,IDidn'tMake-----"
"I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID, MEERKAT!" shouted Fingers. What I meant was, YOU caused ME to throw the ribbons all over, making a mess!"
"That'sRight,Fingers," said Meerkat, "SoYouSee,YOUMadeTheMess!!! Hahahahah!"
"Grrrrrr!" grrr-d Fingers.
"What?" said Meerkat.
"Never mind, Meerkat," said Fingers through gritted teeth. "Are you going to help me clean this mess up, or what?"
"Sure!" said Meerkat. "Gwackadoo!" ZOOM! SWISH! ZOWIE!! Meerkat raced around like greased lightening and had all the ribbons piled on top of Fingers, covering him completely, before Fingers could even move. "There,AllDone!" said Meerkat, happily.
"Hrrammff oooh," mumbled Fingers from under the bundle.
"What?" said Meerkat.
"HRRAMMFF OOOH!" mumbled Fingers, louder.
"IStillCan'tUnderstandYou!" said Meerkat.
The bundle slumped and went quiet. Meerkat leaned towards the bundle so he could hear better.
No sound.
"AreYouInThere,Fingers?" asked Meerkat. He prodded the bundle again.
The bundle began to shake. Meerkat stepped back. Then it shaked some more, and more, SHAKE-SHAKE-SHAKE! and then.........BLAM!GERFLOOGE!!!!!! ribbons exploded in all directions, some of them landing in the nearby trees. Fingers stood there, shouting, "THANK YOU!!!" then raced after Meerkat, his arms outstretched ready to strangle him.
It's a good thing Meerkat was too fast for Fingers, or that would have been his Last Day! Ever!
Sarah Dactyl soared over the clearing and looked down at all the trees covered in ribbons. "Tut-tut....this will NEVER do!" she said. "The forest is so....untidy! Where will it end? I know where it will end, and it will never do! Soon, everyone will want to decorate trees with ribbons, and twinkly kinds of things just for fun. Then they'll want to bring them inside their houses! I know how these things happen! From little acorns, big oak trees grow! Tut-tut!" and she soared off into the clouds.
Deeta came out of her house and saw ribbons scattered everywhere. The trees were filled with them! She looked at Fingers, who was leaning on the water well outside Deeta's front porch, completely out of breath. "What happened, Fingers?"
"What happened?" asked Fingers, looking around at the mess, thoroughly fed up.
"Yes, what happened?" smiled Deeta. This was going be good.
"Well, I'll tell you what happened," said Fingers. He took a deep breath. "You see, I was making my way across the clearing, carrying all these ribbons for Pussyraptor, when----"
"Ooops! Hang on, Fingers! I can smell my cake burning....look, why don't you get Meerkat to clean up this mess....he's good at that sort of thing!" said Deeta as she raced inside the house to rescue her cake.
Fingers stood there, staring after Deeta. "Get Meerkat to clean up this mess? Get Meerkat To Clean Up This Mess??? GET MEERKAT TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS???!!!!!!!!! RRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!" and Fingers slumped down, lost his balance, and fell into the well. SPLASH!
It was not his day.
Pussyraptor had just returned from the forest with her morning basket of berries. She stopped by the well and leaned over, looking down at Fingers, *blink-blink.* "Ber-ry, Fings?" she asked, sweetly, *blink-blink.*
Fingers stared up at Pussyraptor and groaned. He said, "Pussyraptor, can you please get me some help so I can get out of this well?"
Pussyraptor cocked her head and said, "Huh?"
Fingers was ready to give up. He started sobbing and giggling all at once. Pussyraptor stared at him and knew there was something wrong, so she bop-toddled over to Deeta's, who was just putting her cake out on the porch to cool. "Dee-ta?" said Pussyraptor. Deeta was concentrating on balancing her cake on the porch rail, so it wouldn't fall.
"DEEEEEEEEEETTTAAAAAAA!!!!!!" said Pussyraptor, loudly.
Deeta put her cake down and looked up. "Yes, Pussyraptor?"
"Fings....well!" said Pussyraptor, excitedly.
"Yes, things ARE well, Pussyraptor! Look at my cake, it came out really well!" said Deeta, proudly.
"No-nose....Fings....WELL!!!!" said Pussyraptor, pointing frantically to the well, her eyes big as saucers.
"Oh!" exclaimed Deeta, hands to her cheeks. "Fingers has fallen in the well?"
"GWACK!" gwacked Pussyraptor.
Deeta rushed to the well as everybody else came running. Meerkat zoomed up to the well before anybody and said, "WhatHappened???Huh?Huh?"
"Fingers has fallen in the well! We have to get him out!" said Deeta.
Poyyo was going to unhook the bucket and lower the rope, but before he could, Meerkat had already pulled out the stop, and the bucket rocketed down the well and landed on Fingers's head, CLANNNGGG! sending him underwater, BLUB-BLUB-BLUB, while the spinning crank knocked Poyyo out, GRONK! "JustGrabTheBucketAndJumpIn AndI'llPullYouUp!" shouted Meerkat, leaning over the well.
But Fingers couldn't hear him.......he was underwater.
Meerkat jumped on the rope and slid down, ZIP! to the bucket, reached underwater and dragged a very wet, bedraggled Fingers into the bucket. "OK!YouCanPullUsUp,Now!" shouted Meerkat.
Deeta and Pussyraptor grabbed the crank and started winding them up. When they got to the top, Deeta and Pussyraptor helped poor Fingers out of the bucket, as Meerkat hopped out and ran to get a towel ZOOM! SWISH! Poyyo was just coming to, rubbing his sore head, and looked like he wanted strangle Meerkat as well. Meerkat was back in a flash and dried Fingers all over, while Deeta cradled him in her arms and asked if he was OK. Fingers opened his eyes, and said, "Yes, I'm OK..thanks, Deeta."
"Don't thank me, Fingers," said Deeta. "It was Meerkat who saved you!"
"What?" said Fingers.
"Meerkat saved you," said Deeta.
Fingers slumped in Deeta's arms, groaning, and looked over to Meerkat. Meerkat smiled and said, "WantSomeCake?"
Pussyraptor clapped her hands and went "GWACK!"

And so another day passed in the clearing in the forest.

"GWACK!!"

.........

Pussyraptor was brought up by the cider ducks (who make the yummiest apple cider), and thought she was a duck until she found out she was a Pussyraptor. Try as she might to say "quack," the nearest she could get was "Gwack!" She wasn't real good at swimming (she sank), either. And flying....well, though Pussyraptor had little wings, they didn't work! But she grew the bestest berries in the forest and kept all her goofy friends well supplied with her goods. These stories are filled with a delightfully chaotic, disorganized madness blended with abiding friendships, permeating wholesome goodness, and personal interaction that children love. All positive, fun stories.
Pussyraptor's unique vocabulary will become part of the English language: "Hi-lo" for "hello," "Bye-gones" for goodbye, "Gwack!" for just about everything, "Gone-ses" for "gone," etc.

The cider ducks!!
There are also a series of "origins" stories...as an example, Pussyraptor is sitting with Meerkat (after a frantic snorgleball game), who wears goggles and a little knapsack filled with nuts to give him energy as he ZOOMS! SWISHES! and ZOWIES! all over the place. Deeta makes butter by mashing up Meerkat's peanuts and spreads it on some fresh-baked bread and hands a slice to Pussyraptor to hold. Then she mashes up some of Pussyraptor's berries and spreads the jam on another slice and hands that to Pussyraptor. Deeta asks Pussyraptor if she would like some cider. Pussyraptor claps her hands in excitement...and invents the peanut butter and jam sandwich!
Yay!
Pussyraptor © copyright 2004 Paul Olsen & Andrea Smith

There are three more pages of stories....if you are an established children's publisher, or an animated feature producer and wish to read the seasonal classic special, "A Pussyraptor Kris-must," please click
the button at the bottom of the last page and I will send you the URL.

I hope you enjoy these magical stories.