The “Backyardigans.” It brings a smile to my face every time I think of them as they were one of Mari’s favorite shows. As soon as the music would start she begin to dance. She might flap her arms and do a little awwwwwwww as she watched.

I wonder sometimes what drew her the most. Maybe it was the vivid bright colors that each of the five characters were. Or maybe it was the fact none of them were human beings but all animals of some sort, although Uniqua, I never did find out exactly what kind of animal she was supposed to be. It could also have been the catch songs they sang on the show that’d get stuck in your head as the parent. All I know is it made her very happy. In fact, her last Christmas she received all five Beanie Babies and she loved them. She’d line them up then flap her little arms as she stare down at them.

Here are a couple of pictures from Mari’s last Christmas, 2007, where she got a ball with the Backyardigans on it as well as the Beanie Babies.

Here are a couple of videos with the theme song. One has the lyrics as it’s being sung, one just has a picture, and the other one is someone recording the video as it’s being played on the TV.

B is for Backstory

April 2, 2014 Kristena Tunstall 3

How do we get to know the characters of the stories we either write or read about. One way is to weave backstory into book. However, you don't want an info dump of information where you completely lose your reader as they've lost interest with your novel. You want to…