About the story
Told in a rhyming, whimsical style, The Whale’s Tale is at its heart the story of friendship and trust in the face of adversity. When the sea creatures north of Wales find themselves in danger, they first try to solve the problem themselves. But up against insurmountable odds, they finally go to their leader, the Prince of Whales. They implore him to help and the Prince of Whales shows them how joining together and calling on others who believe in their cause to add their power to the struggle is the way forward.
Costas Avrakotos
Costas Avrakotos was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and he is as proud of that fact as he is of his Greek heritage. He spent his early career working in a variety of jobs from serving on the night shift in the wire mill at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company to driving a cab in Philadelphia. In 1981, he decided to go to law school and for more than three decades, he has been a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C.
This is his first children’s book. He wrote it for parents to read with their children and used a rhyming style to illustrate how words that sound the same can have different meanings. He chose a storyline that would encourage children to see that showing courage and taking collective action to overcome obstacles can make a positive difference.
el primo Ramón
Born in A Coruña, a rainy city on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, Borja Ramón López Cotelo and Maria Olmo Béjar spent long years at a College of Architecture and, later, studying for a Phd. degree focused on architectural graphics. Together, they credit their works as el primo Ramón.
After over five years working as architects and graphic designers, they started a career as illustrators in 2015 when they published their first title in Spain (Las cosas que importan, Ed. Bululú). Since then, they have illustrated books for international publishers such as Usborne, Pearson, Oxford University, Press Henry Holt-McMillan, Simon and Schuster, Ronshin (China) or Auzou (France), and have worked for companies (BBC-CBeebies) and institutions (Universidade da Coruña, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela).
Every day, between cups of coffee, fish, chips and some book reading, they search for new stories to tell by means of lines and colors.
Early love for the book.
"What a beautiful book! And a wonderful story! As a language guy, it was so intriguing to see how many words rhyme with whale! What a treasure.”
Dr. Floyd Gómez-Starnes, lifelong educator and current coach and trainer for teachers
Is there life after being a mortgage regulatory attorney for several decades? Apparently, yes. Costas “Gus” Avrakotos has just published “The Whale’s Tale,” a children’s book. A book party was held last week in Silver Spring, MD, for the retired Mayer Brown attorney. Opening remarks were supplied by another retired Mayer Brown regulatory attorney, Phillip Schulman, who had the crowd at Zinnia’s in stitches with his stand-up routine. Schulman told us, “I have been fooling around with doing presentations on ‘How To Tell A Joke."
Inside Mortgage Finance: What the Mortgage Market Reads
