Easter Eggs!
Below is a list of all of the "easter eggs" that I have placed in my Leave it to Beamer books. But what IS an "easter egg" you ask? Easter eggs are hidden messages, jokes or clues that can be found in a piece of work. They are typically found in digital works such as computer programs, video games, movies, DVD menus and things like that. However, they can also be found in the artwork of children's book illustrations as I have done!
**SPOILER ALERT!**
Each of my books contains at least a few easter eggs, including a clue as to what my next book will be! So if you want to find these on your own, click off this page right away! Otherwise, read on and enjoy!
Don't Let the Cat Out of the Bag Easter Eggs
On page 16, I have added a mouse family portrait hanging on the wall inside the house. This is actually a family portrait of MY family - in mouse form of course! My wife, my son, my 2 daughters and I are all pictured here!
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On page 18, I have added an inscription to the key that Monterey Jack finds and uses to rescue the King. The inscription reads "One Key To Unlock Them All", which is a reference to the phrase "One Ring to Rule Them All" from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of my favorite book series.
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On page 8, when we are first introduced to the evil cat Meowzer, there is a small pile of cat toys in the back of his cave. And if you look closely, one of those toys is a small little elephant.....also know as "the elephant in the room" which is the idiom that I will be using for my second book!
The Elephant in the Room Easter Eggs
On page 15, since the elephant ninjas are hiding in the park, I have added a garbage can.....to keep the park clean of course! But instead of the standard logo showing a stick figure throwing garbage away, I have replaced the stick figure with a figure of Beamer!
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On page 17, the elephant ninjas are hiding in a house. And what house isn't complete without a mouse hole, right? And you can't have a mouse hole without a mouse! So I have added the greatest mouse of them all (sorry Mickey!).....none other than the famous Monterey Jack!
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In Don't Let the Cat Out of the Bag, I snuck in a picture of my family in mouse form. This time I have included my family in hippo form! So on page 18, in the back of the restaurant, you will find myself, my wife, my son and my 2 daughters sitting in a booth together!
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On page 16, on one of the grocery store shelves, you will find some boxes of pudding called "Proof Pudding". This is a hint for my third book, which will be about the idiom "The Proof is in the Pudding".
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The Proof is in the Pudding Easter Eggs
On page 10, the townspeople are enjoying Patty's delicious pudding. And amongst these townspeople are the mouse knights from my first book "Leave it to Beamer Presents: Don't Let the Cat Out of the Bag."
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On page 12, the townspeople have noticed that Patty's pudding doesn't taste so well and so they are throwing it into the garbage. And once again, instead of the standard logo showing a stick figure throwing garbage away, I have replaced the stick figure with a figure of Beamer!
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On page 13, Patty has called a press conference to address the townspeople regarding her pudding. And in the bottom right corner, you will notice that one of the townspeople in attendance is one of the Elusive Elephant Ninjas!
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As is customary in all of my stories, I like to sneak in my family in some shape or form. In this case, on page 16, my wife, my son, my 2 daughters and I are a family of bears, being questioned by Lieutenant Lucas & Inspector Isaac.
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Here on page 8, the townspeople are out and about, enjoying a typical day in the City of Custard. And in the background are 2 little mouse girls who are pushing a soccer ball. This is my hint for the idiom I will be using in book #4: "Get the Ball Rolling".
Get the Ball Rolling Easter Eggs
On page 5, Beamer and his father are getting ready to go fishing. As most boats do, theirs has a name - the "S.S. B5". B5 is a nickname for my family (the Boura 5) to help differentiate ours from my brother's family, which consists of 4 people (B4 or The Boura 4). And the name of the boat is carried out throughout the story in other illustrations as well.
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I typically name the characters in my stories after my very own family members. In this story, Jason the Giant is named after a nephew of mine. Jason has a number of reptilian pets and so I have depicted a few of them on page 12, seen on his shoulder and on his
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As I do in all of my books, I place my family and I in the story in some way or another. So in this book, my wife, my son, my 2 daughters and I are depicted as gnomes in a picture frame on Advisor Adeline's wall here on page 21.
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On page 28, when Gracie and Nolan Gnome are checking the calendar for the next "Get the Ball Rolling Day", you might notice a familiar little rodent sneaking out of his mouse hole. That's right, it's none other than Monterey Jack from my very first book, Don't Let the Cat Out of the Bag! He sure likes to make appearances in my other stories!
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Page 28 contains a 2nd Easter Egg as well! On the calendar, it is shown that July 15th is "Get the Ball Rolling Day". And it is also noted that the day before, July 14th, was Beamer's Birthday. And THAT is actually TRUE! July 14th, 1991 was the day that I first created Beamer!
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This here is less of an Easter Egg and more of a brag! Ha ha! My middle daughter, Chloe, has become quite the artist and is very fond of the Japanese Anime style! So I decided to let her do one of my illustrations for this book and so she chose to do page 31 here near the end of the story. I have also pointed this out ON the actual page in the book itself. Pretty cool eh?!
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If you have read any of my other Leave it to Beamer books and if you have found this page on my website, then you must know that one of the Easter Eggs I place in every story is a clue to the idiom for my NEXT book! So on page 12 we have a SECOND Easter Egg which is in the image on Little Loreli's t-shirt. The image shows a girl hugging, or holding, a horse. So the idiom for my NEXT book is going to be "Hold Your Horses!"
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