Thanks to a viral video of Janice Clark reading Craig Smith’s The Wonky Donkey to her baby grandson, and her breathless amusement over lines such as “He was a honky-tonky winky wonky donkey,” the 2009 picture book about a three-legged, one-eyed donkey has started flying off the shelves again, suddenly becoming No. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution People see it and say, ‘Oh, I have to get that for my grandchildren.’ ”. Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. “The illustrations are hilarious and I could just see it all in my mind when I just start laughing. And that meant the three-legged donkey knocked legendary Watergate journalist Bob Woodward’s book Fear, about the US President, off the No1 spot on the Amazon’s best-seller’s list. And just like Janice, the author — who has now published eight kids’ books — has also been inundated with goodwill messages. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click here. “Before this fall, if you had said Wonky Donkey in my store, no one would have known what you were talking about,” said Linda Devlin, owner of Linda’s Story Time in Monroe, Conn. “Now, it just sells and sells. She says: “I was reading Wonky Donkey for the first time as I had never even heard of it before. “Fiona filmed the clip of me reading and posted it on Facebook to my knitting group. By Bopha Phorn. Folk say how I’ve brightened up their day or they’d been feeling down and I made them laugh. The clip of Janice, who is so overcome with laughter she claims “this book is going to kill me!”, has now had over 100million YouTube hits in less than a month. It was written by Craig Smith in late 2005 and published in 2009. His coffee-loving donkey, brilliantly illustrated by Katz Cowley, became a best-seller Down Under where it sold 750,000 copies. Janice’s infectious laughter was an absolute delight!” wrote Smith, a New Zealand-based musician and author, in a recent email. 2 overall bestselling print book in Canada, according to BookNet Canada. So I understood words like ‘the weans.’ I’m sure most people didn’t have a problem with them.”, He adds: “I have been in touch with Fiona and Janice and all I could do was thank them for what they’ve done. Demand for a children's book has skyrocketed after video of a Scottish grandmother reading the book to her 4-month-old grandson went viral. All 1 on the Juvenile list and the No. The Scot who moved from Ayrshire to Australia in 1973 spoke to us as part of our Free Books for Schools campaign. It’s because of a laughing Scottish grandmother. "What they also really relate to is that Wonky has a leg and an eye missing but they’re just facts. But until recently it had a much smaller audience elsewhere. Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com, The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Republication or distribution of this content is "More than ever we all need to be sitting down and reading books to our kids.”, We pay for your stories and videos! “A friend of mine told the joke, ‘What do you call a donkey with three legs?’ And the answer was, ‘A wonky donkey!’ Everyone sniggered and groaned.”, “I went home and got my rhyming dictionary out,” he said, “and the cumulative play on words and Wonky tale began. With three legs and one eye and posted it on Facebook to my KNITTING group day or they ’ just... Down and I made them laugh, brilliantly illustrated by Katz Cowley, had already sold hundreds thousands... Journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes it all in my mind when I just start.. Written by Smith more than a decade ago made to so many people to Canada! 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