Yeahbut and the Purple Tail

About the Book

Zach is a very active child who involves himself in conversations by saying “yeah, but” then taking the conversation in another direction. Zach is visited by a strange friend, Yeahbut, who intends to break Zach of this habit. Zach has some embarrassing struggles as he tries to rid himself of this annoying friend.

About the Author

Elizabeth Ann (Betty) Whalen was a mother who loved all children. She decided from the first day of our marriage that she did not want someone else raising our children. When we got married she already had a degree in language arts and a teaching certificate but being with her children trumped her desire for a working career. During the early years of our marriage we lived in a little project house we had moved onto an isolated five acres we had purchased with a down payment from Betty’s savings. While I worked nights and finished college with help from the G.I. bill she cared for the children, grew and canned most of the food we needed. She was an accomplished lyric soprano and focused her music talent on establishing a comprehensive children’s choir program at our church. She had separate choirs for five different age groups ranging in age from pre-school through high school and ranging in size from eight to thirty children each. She also had children and adult handbell choirs and later directed the church adult choir. She directed many stage productions within the church with the children’s and adult choirs. Some of the productions she authored but most were authored and composed by others. She loved to read and tell stories to our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She wrote a lot of stories for children and youth but never got them published. This story about “Yeahbut” dealt with a problem our great grandchildren had in the first and second grades with over using the phrase “yeah but”. They were so excited with the story they asked if their teachers could read it. The teachers then combined their first and second grade classes and had Betty read it for the classes. Each child in the classes got a purple bookmark shaped like a tail and drew pictures of what they thought “Yeahbut” looked like. The teachers suggested she should publish the story. Shortly after this both Betty and my 102 year old mother who lived with us became hospitalized and publishing the story fell aside. This story is being published as a memorial to Betty for family and friends.