Escaped capybara Cinnamon stars in new children’s book
Hoo Zoo
The book is illustrated by viral “Rubbish Pet Portraits” artist Hercule Van Wolfwinkle
She’s the capybara who became world famous after escaping from a zoo – now Cinnamon is set to be the star of a new children’s book.
The intrepid rodent fled her enclosure at Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World in Telford on 13 September after a gate was accidentally left open.
It gripped animal lovers across the world and she spent a week on the run before she was dramatically captured in a conservation area next to the zoo on 20 September.
Her story has since sparked internet memes, merchandise, a song, and now a children’s book called Cinnamon’s Big Adventure.
Hoo Zoo
Cinnamon escaped her zoo enclosure in September
Tracey J Morgan, the author, said she was “eagerly watching” Cinnamon’s escapades, adding that it captured everybody’s imagination.
The book has been illustrated by viral “Rubbish Pet Portraits” artist, Hercule Van Wolfwinkle.
A drawing he posted of Cinnamon on social media gained thousands of likes and shares, and he leapt at the chance to illustrate the story about her.
An animal lover herself, Ms Morgan said she had been friends with people at the zoo for years and the idea for a children’s book was originally suggested as a joke by the zoo’s owner Will Dorrell.
She eventually settled on writing the book in a rhyming style similar to The Gruffalo and said she even had a Zoom meeting with Cinnamon and her keepers to “grill her” for more detail about her adventures.
“When Cinnamon went missing, everybody wanted her back, but I felt like I had a personal connection as well because I knew how hard they worked,” Ms Morgan told BBC Radio Shropshire.
Tracey J Morgan
Author Tracey J Morgan has written a children’s book about Cinnamon’s adventure
“It was interesting as an outsider to watch it all unfold, I can’t imagine what it was like for the zoo to be in the middle of it all. She really captured people’s hearts,” Ms Morgan added.
The book will be available on the zoo’s website from 16 December with all proceeds going to the attraction’s upkeep.
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