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Creator / Rosemary Wells

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"Animals can serve as a metaphor and they are easier to write about than human children. For example, with the Yoko series, it might not be considered politically correct for a non-Japanese writer to pen a story about a Japanese character. Since Yoko is a kitten, I can work around this."
Rosemary Wells, from a Japan Times interview

Rosemary Wells (born January 29, 1943) is a prolific creator of children's picture books and has also written for older audiences. Her two most popular franchises, which have also been adapted for television by Nelvana in Canada, are Max and Ruby and Timothy Goes to School. Some other popular titles by her include the Bunny Planet books, the Edward the Unready series (later rereleased as eBooks under the banner "Edward Almost Ready"), the McDuff series and Emily's First 100 Days of Kindergarten. Her nonfiction titles have included Help Children Cope With Divorce and Getting to Know You: Rodgers and Hammerstein Favorites. Some of her works titled at older audiences include Mary on Horseback and The Miraculous Tale of the Two Maries. In all, she has written well over 100 titles. Her most recent series are the Kindergators, about a group of young alligators, the Sophie books, about a high-spirited two-year-old mouse, and Felix & Fiona, which revives her Felix the guinea pig character, but also adds a new friend for him named Fiona.

Her very first title, published in 1972, was Unfortunately Harriet. It is currently out of print. Her second title, published a year later, was the much more well-known Noisy Nora, which remains in print to this day, with Nora becoming one of the characters on the Timothy Goes to School television series.

She is known for the Read to Your Bunny initiative, which, through the book by the same name, and through other media, encourages parents to read to their children for at least 20 minutes a day.

She was also involved in the production of the Max & Ruby and Timothy television series. Her official website can be found here.

Not to be confused with a film which also contains the word Rosemary in it.


Tropes featured in Wells's works include:

  • Adaptational Heroism: In the Timothy Goes to School animated series, some of her characters act a lot more nicer than there were in the books.
  • Adults Are Useless: At least in "Benjamin & Tulip" Benjamin's aunt doesn't even think about calling out Tulip or her actions for beating up and starting a fight with him.
  • Afraid of Needles: Felix from the Bunny Planet series had a very unpleasant experience at the doctors when he was sick in the story "The Island Light"
  • All Elections Are Serious Business: In "Otto Runs For President" Tiffany and Charles think like this, but not Otto (and his best friend Melanie).
  • Alphabet News Network: Emily's First 100 Days of School is presented by BNN, or the "Bunny News Network."
  • Alpha Bitch: Grace the Cat (from Timothy Goes to School) and Tiffany the Poodle (from Otto Runs for President).
    • Sylvia and Olive from the Yoko series.
  • Alternate Continuity: Some Yoko books have an alternate continuity from one another (the titular character starts her first day of school in each kind), such as the earlier "Yoko and Friends: School Days" series, and the later Yoko series with Angelo the mouse (essentially being a minor Expy to Timothy, who doesn't appear at all), Sylvia, and Olive.
  • Anthology: The Yoko book "Yoko's World Of Kindness" combines 6 stories from the Yoko & Friends series.
  • Art Evolution: Her art style for her bunny characters and animals from the 70s - late 90s looked different compared to her newer books.
  • Art Shift: In the ''Baby Max and Ruby'' books, only Max and Ruby are illustrated while everything is mostly real life photos or images.
    • Some of her illustrations for Yoko in the Yoko series would switch from a colored pencil style which is also used in Yoko & Friends, to her traditional water colors common in any of her other books.
    • In "Love Waves" Wells decided to use pastel for the illustrations instead of her traditional water color style.
    • Some of the Yoko & Friends books have a different art style and character designs. Most notable would be the book "Be My Valentine".
  • Ascended Extra: Some of the characters have gotten more screen time and their own episodes in Timothy Goes to School.
    • While Lilly isn't seen much on the books, In the Animated Adaptation, she has around 4 or 5 episodes where she's the main character of the episode or a secondary character, such as "Don't Lose It, Lilly" and "Lifesaver Lilly," both dealing with her forgetfulness problem.
    • Claude only showed up in the original "Timothy Goes to School" book and hardly shows up in Yoko & Friends but has a bigger presence in the animated series.
    • Grace also shows up more often in the show than in the books, similar to Claude. Due to her being a ballet dancer, two episodes shown her in ballet class with Doris and Yoko.
  • Aside Glance: One of Wells' signature illustration style is having her characters stare at the viewer. Mostly on the cover of a book or in some of the pages in her books.
    • Most of the Max and Ruby books feature Max staring at the viewer for some of the covers.
    • Timothy does this in the original cover of Timothy Goes to School.
    • Yoko can be seen staring at the reader in Yoko, Yoko Learns to Read, Yoko's Show and Tell,Yoko Writes her Name, and in a few Yoko & Friends books such as Mama, Don't Go! along with her mother, and The Halloween Parade along with Timothy.
    • Yoko is also seen staring at the viewer in the first page of Yoko Finds Her Way while eating a lollipop and Yoko Learns to Read while raising her hands up.
    • Timothy and Yoko are both seen staring at the viewer in the book Letters and Sounds.
    • Some of her Mother Goose illustrations have some of the characters staring at the viewer.
    • In the end of the animated version of "Emily's 100 Days of School" she winks at the viewer once it finally gets to 100.
  • Attack of the Political Ad: In her picture book Otto Runs for President, the ads for as school election start about halfway decent, with Charles's side promising meat in the cafeteria and Tiffany's promising more mirrors in the girls' bathroom, among other thing. They quickly descend into Tiffany insinuating that Charles is a cheater, and Charles insinuating Tiffany of spending class dues on hairspray, and soon become worse than insinuations. "TIFFANY: Wrong on hairspray! Wrong for Barkladelphia School!" Meanwhile, Otto ignores both campaigns, quietly speaks to everyone in the school about what they actually want out of a school president and what the school needs, then passes out cookies with his campaign platform. He wins the election.
  • Audio Adaptation: Some of her titles have gotten their own audiobooks (Mostly from Weston Woods Studios), such as Hazel's Amazing Mother and the Mother Goose series including some made for Taiwan. The original releases for "Timothy Goes To School" and "Benjamin & Tulip" also came with audio cassettes a few years later after there original release during the decade it was published. Today you can currently be able to purchase the audio book version of Timothy Goes To School and Benjamin & Tulip on Amazon.com
    • The original release of "Timothy Goes To School" gained it's own audio cassette tape made in 1982 a year after the original books released which was narrated by Dan Diggles complete with it's own soundtrack mostly themed to blues/jazz style music.
    • The Benjamin & Tulip book also gained it's own audio book that was released in 1975 narrated by Frances Kelly. Most of the music heard in the audio cassette were 70's era synthesizers.
    • The first Yoko book was given an audio cassette by Scholastic in 1999 that was narrated by Vivian Bayubay.
    • The complete Voyage to the Bunny Planet is available in an audio edition both on the Amazon audiobook site Audible and on Playaway, a format often found in libraries. It includes both music and sound effects, as well as a soothing female narrator.
    • Helping Children Cope with Grief, one of her titles for adult readers, has been released as an audiobook.
  • Author Avatar: Miss Jenkins, Miss Cribbage, and Miss Harmony all represent Wells herself.
  • Animated Adaptation: Those that haven't been made into television series have often been adapted as read aloud storybooks for home video, sometimes with animation. Most of these came from Weston Woods Studios who had a long history with Wells and her books where they previously did audio cassettes for her older ones back in the 70's and 80's.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Most of her furry characters.
    • Yoko is usually barefoot, but in Yoko Writes Her Name she is seen wearing red shoes.
    • Speaking of Yoko, how about her mother? In the books she is seen wearing tabis but is completely barefoot in the TV series.
    • In the Bunny Planet series, Claire is mostly barefoot but is seen wearing blue slippers when she's walking out in the cold snow.
  • Bathtub Scene
    • An innocent and G rated example, in Yoko Learns to Read, she is seen taking a bath in the nude while talking to her mother about her fear of failing class due to not understanding English language and writing since she's used to doing it in Japanese.
    • Read To Your Bunny has a scene with a mother bunny reading to her child in the bathtub.
  • Beary Friendly: Edward from the Edward the Unready series.
    • A couple of bears are shown in the "Mother Goose" series
    • The book "Only You" focuses on a baby bear and a mother bear.
  • Bilingual Bonus: In the page margins of Yoko Writes Her Name, the names for common objects are printed in English and Japanese. The illustrations also have Yoko's name in hiragana (ようこ) and the names of a few of her American classmates in katakana, including Angelo (アンジエロ), Henso (ヘンソー), Frank (フランク), Olive (オリブ), and Sylvia (シルビア).
  • Bland-Name Product: The animated version of Emily's 100 Days of School would bring up BNN (Bunny News Network) when ever a number gets to 10 or 20.
  • Breakout Character: Yoko debuted in the 1998 book "Yoko" where she would become Timothy's best friend, which would extend to the Timothy animated series. She would later get two book series starring her. Yoko would also become one of Wells' most beloved characters.
  • The Bible: In Emily's 100 Days of School, a toy figure of Noah's Ark is seen and brought up by Emily's father.
  • Bunnies for Cuteness: Very common in any of her books starring or featuring bunnies. Especially in the Emily, Max and Ruby, and Bunny Planet series.
  • Call-Back: The 2011 Yoko book "Yoko's Show-And-Tell" deals can count as a callback to the Timothy Goes To School episode "The Taketombo" which deals with Yoko bringing something to school only for it to break before showing it to the rest of the students. The only difference is that in the 2011 book Yoko's mother actually gives her a stern warning about bringing it to school and Yoko ends up having to take the broken pieces when she gets off the bus. Yoko actually gets nervous and a bit scared when her mother deicded to let her leave school early because of how bad she was taking it.
  • Canon Immigrant/Canon Foreigner: Juanita was exclusive to Animated Adaptation of Timothy Goes to School, only showing up in the final two episodes. After the show ended, Wells decided to give Juanita a cameo appearance in the book "Timothy's Tales At Hilltop School" and a Yoko & Friends book "Make New Friends"
    • Louise was also created for the Max and Ruby series but ended up showing up in some of the books made during the show's run.
  • Carnivore Confusion: The picture book First Tomato from the Bunny Planet series describes a group of bunny-people children being served bologna sandwiches, which greatly depresses the main character, as this is her least favorite lunch. Another character in the same series has to suffer through a dinner of cold liver chili.
  • Cats Are Mean: While Grace isn't mean, she does get pushy or bossy with others. But she can be nice most of the time. This is most notable in the later episodes of Timothy Goes to School where she acts much nicer when Juanita is the new student in class.
    • The cat duo Sylvia and Olive who appear in the Yoko series such as "Yoko Writes Her Name" and "Yoko Learns To Read" are mostly making fun of Yoko's Japanese such as her Japanese writing, her reading skills, and her reading books from from right to left.
  • Character Title: The 1998 book Yoko.
  • Characterization Marches On: In the older Max and Ruby books, Ruby was more of a Deadpan Snarker and sometimes strict with her brother Max. She also used to get easily annoyed and irritated with Max's tricks. In the newer Max and Ruby books starting in the early 2000s, she becomes more nicer and playful around Max but still a Control Freak.
    • Doris another character created by Rosemary Wells who showed up in Animated Adaptation of Timothy Goes to School and the "Yoko & Friends" book series. Started out as an antagonist in the 1985 book "Hazel's Amazing Mother" as one of the bullies that teases Hazel by throwing her hat around and messing up Hazel's doll. Near the end of the book, she ends up along with the other two male bullies fixing up Hazel's doll and putting some of Hazel's things back to normal when her mother arrives. When she reappeared in the 1998 "Yoko" book and "Yoko & Friends" series along with Charles and Nora, Doris became more tolerable but would sometimes be pushy and get annoyed very easily during certain situations. While she did end up apologizing to Hazel in the original book she appeared in, it's still pretty jarring to see Doris like this compared to how she acts in her later appearances.
    • One of the oldest characters created by Wells is Nora, who debuted in the Noisy Nora book in 1973. In the book she is very mischievous and would be seen knocking down various furniture in her family house. When she showed up in Yoko & Friends and the animated version of Timothy Goes to School, she no longer acts mischievous but instead acts more like a Bratty Half-Pint.
    • Charles wouldn't speak at all in the original book Shy Charles. Of course, this wasn't going to fly for the TV show. Charles was re-imagined as a character that was still shy at times, but also quite imaginative and could be very friendly and talkative if you took the time to get to know him and understand him. He became one of Timothy's best friends.
    • Timothy in the original book always wished to see Claude mess up including hoping he fell into a pile of mud and was shown crying a couple times in the book. This was removed in the later release of "Timothy Goes To School" in the 90's and his later appearances such as the animated series.
  • Chuck Cunning Ham Syndrome: Some of her characters haven't been seen in any of her newer books in years.
    • Hazel from Hazel's Amazing Mother did show up in the 1998 book "Yoko" but is absent in Yoko & Friends and the animated series.
    • Speaking of Yoko & Friends, the majority of the characters (Except Yoko) haven't made a reappearance in any of the newer Yoko books. With the exception of The Franks and Doris who show up in a couple Yoko books.
    • Before Yoko existed, Timothy's original friend Violet from the original version of "Timothy Goes To School" hasn't been spotted in any of the Yoko & Friends books including the latest illustration of Timothy Goes To School where she gets replaced by Yoko.
    • Grace the Bunny from the original 1981 version of Timothy Goes to School got replaced by a another character named Grace the Cat who showed up in Yoko & Friends and the animated series.
    • Timothy also hasn't shown up in any of Wells' recent books since the book tie-ins for the Nelvana animated series in the early 2000s.
  • Classical Mythology: Wells made two Max and Ruby books that contained two stories from Greek mythology. The first called "Max and Ruby's First Greek Myth Pandora's Box" has Ruby reading Max about "Pandora's Box" and the second called "Max and Ruby's Midas Another Greek Myth" is about King Midas.
  • Cool Teacher: Miss Jenkins, Miss Cribbage, and Miss Harmony.
  • Cute Kitten: Yoko the main protagonist of the Yoko series and Yoko & Friends. She looks even more cute as a young toddler as seen in Yoko's Paper Cranes.
    • Juanita who shows up in the later Yoko books is a cute Mexican cat and a new student.
    • In the Emily series, Emily has two students who are kittens.
    • Muriel the kitten who showed up in the book "The Halloween Parade".
    • The kitten duo "Kit and Kaboodle" from the book of the same name.
  • Darker and Edgier: Wells made two books dealing with divorce and coping with death both gearing towards older readers. Same goes for the other books she made without her signature animal illustrations such as "Red Moon" which is set during The American Civil War and "Through The Hidden Door".
    • Rosemary Wells was the author of the 2012 book "Following Grandfather". While a children's book, the book is a lot darker and serious since it deals with a young mouse named Jenny coping and mourning the loss of her grandfather.
  • Dated History: In the book Emily's First 100 Days of School which has 100 pages which has events related to the number. In the ninth page, where Emily and her the other students tell how many planets the Solar System has, Pluto is included in it. this was made years before Pluto was deemed no longer a planet.
  • Dedication: Wells would usually dedicate some of her books to some of her relatives and other people she knows such as "Yoko Writes Her Name" which is dedicated to Brenda, and also gives thanks to Satoko Naito and Junko Yokoto. Felix Stands Tall is also dedicated to Val with the message "For My Val"
  • Demoted to Extra: Doris and The Franks were main characters in Yoko & Friends (The Franks debuted in the 1998 book Yoko and Doris also made a reappearance in the same book) but in the later Yoko books are mostly background characters.
  • Disappeared Dad: Yoko's dad is never seen in any of the Yoko or Yoko & Friends books.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Sylvia and Olive from the Yoko book "Yoko Writes Her Name" and "Yoko Learns To Read" are basically the cat versions of The Franks except they aren't brothers and are prone to teasing and are a lot smarter than the Franks.
    • Yoko is also a female version of Timothy except that she's Japanese and a kitten.
  • Dogs Are Dumb: Subverted with Frank and Frank, while they aren't dumb they are prone to causing trouble mostly for curiosity or feel like having fun.
  • Domestic Appliance Disaster: In "Sock Mischief," one of three stories in her picture book Kit & Kaboodle, the mischievous mouse Spinka deliberately invokes this when he's annoyed that the grandmother of the kittens Kit & Kaboodle knitted socks for them, but not for him. After the socks are put in the wash on cold setting, he changes it to hot while nobody's looking, then puts them in the dryer on hot, causing them to shrink to his size, then takes them for his own.
  • Dub Name Change: Some of her books were given different names when it got translated in different countries along with some of her characters
    • Timothy Goes To School is called Timothée va à l'école (literal translation) in France
    • Hazel's Amazing Mother is called La estupenda mamá de Roberta in Spanish
    • Benjamin & Tulip is called Lucas y Virginia in Spanish.
    • Noisy Nora is known in Spanish as Julieta, estáte quieta (Juliet, be quiet)
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The original 1979 version of ''Max's First Word'' had Max's overalls colored white and was only 6 pages long. The original 1979 book was very small compared to rest of the series, with the exception of Baby Max and Ruby which also had small sized books.
    • One of her earliest books written was "Benjamin & Tulip" from 1973 which deals with a duo of Tsundere raccoons causing fights with each other with their aunt worried about the two. The book contains lines such as "I'm going to beat you up." and "You're cruising for a bruising!". The book was also pretty violent such as Benjamin attempting to throw a big watermelon onto Tulip, spitting watermelon seeds at each other, Benjamin throwing the same watermelon onto Tulip's face, and Tulip throwing mud all over Benjamin. In modern books, she avoids showing any of her characters showing or attempting any types of violence.
    • Possibly her oddest book in terms of early installment weirdness is her very first title, Unfortunately Harriet, published in 1972. The book is notable for two reasons: first, though, it's a picture book, the subject of the story is a human girl who spilled varnish on the rug and not the anthropomorphic animal characters for which Wells is known. Second, if the book didn't have her name on it, you'd probably never guess that she was the one who wrote/illustrated it.
    • Her very first character illustration work was the 1971 book "Impossible Possum" where the setting and art style looks very different compared to her other books.
    • One of her earliest works, Abdul, dating from 1975, is about a camel in a Middle Eastern country which has an odd-looking calf that people start thinking is a devil and one point suggest tying to a stake and leaving to starve.
  • Every Episode Ending: Every installment of the Voyage to the Bunny Planet books ends with the star character observing the Bunny Planet in the night sky and marveling "It was there all along!"
  • Everyone Has Standards: The Franks can be mean sometimes, but in Yoko's Show-and-Tell, they're horrified when they accidentally break Yoko's china doll, Miki. At the end of the book, they are seen doing yard work in front of Yoko's house to make up for their mistake.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: In the book "The Secret Birthday" Grace overhears Nora whispering to Yoko about who's going to be invited to her (Nora's) birthday party in the girl's room (Grace was hiding in a stall, and she wasn't on the list). The rule is, "No Birthday Talk At School"...
  • Expy: Grace The Cat served as a replacement of Grace the Bunny from the original Timothy Goes to School book, including sharing similar personality traits and both are seen with Claude most of the time.
    • The female cat duo Sylvia and Olive who showed up in the later Yoko books such as "Yoko Learns to Read" and "Yoko Writes Her Name" both looked very similar to Grace minus them being rich.
    • Angelo the mouse (Who shows up in the later books) is pretty much like Timothy as a mouse
    • Yoko herself is pretty much a cat version of Violet, Timothy's original friend from the "Timothy Goes To School" book.
  • The Faceless: In the "Bunny Planet" story "First Tomato", Clare is seen walking behind two humans walking out in the snow but only there legs and upper parts of there bodies are seen.
  • Fantastic Racism: Used in Yoko, in which the titular character, a Japanese kitten, is ostracized for eating sushi at lunch, and the same thing happens when she brings in ice cream with beans and they find it weird.
  • Female Feline, Male Mutt: The recurring dog twins Frank and Frank are both male, while most of the cat characters are female such as Grace, Juanita and Sylvia and Olive who showed up in "Yoko Learns To Read" and "Yoko Writes Her Name". Yoko herself is the most notable female cat character.
  • Flashback: The first half of "Yoko's Paper Cranes" shows a very young Yoko still living in Japan with her grandmother Obaasan and her grandfather Ojiisan. Where it shows her grandmother feeding cranes at the end of the pond and tells Yoko they stay for a few months then leave Japan. Her grandfather also teaches her how to make paper cranes.
  • Flowery Insults: In Shy Charles, his father yells at Charles for failing in football, calling him a "jelly roll", a "cowardly custard" and a sandwich without bread, ham or mustard.
  • Free-Range Children: Common in her books made in the 70's and 80's but she later abandoned this trope in the 90's.
  • Friend to All Children: Janet the Bunny Queen from Voyage To The Bunny Planet.
  • Fully-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Miss Jenkins and Miss Cribbage are fully dressed.
    • The mother from "Love Waves"
    • Yoko is actually fully dressed in "Yoko Writers Her Name" where she is seen wearing red shoes with white socks.
  • Funny Animal or Talking Animal: The majority of her children's books would always star an anthropomorphic animal character but this trope wasn't always the case during the 70's and 80's where it would sometimes star a human character which Wells hasn't illustrated since the Mother Goose series in the 90's.
  • Furry Confusion: In the Emily series, Emily's family own a non anthropomorphic pet dog despite one of the class members being a talking dog.
  • Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Mostly some of the male animal characters such as Timothy, the Franks and Fritz. Timothy is sometimes seen wearing overalls in some of his appearances in Yoko and Friends when he isn't wearing his blue and white shirt.
  • Heroic BSoD: In the book "Yoko Show-And-Tell", after Yoko's glass doll Miki gets broken on the way to school inside the bus after the franks were tossing it around. Yoko doesn't speak and is mostly seen with a blank/shocked expression until she returns home to her mother via her mother's car after she hears that Yoko wasn't acting her self that day. She refuses to eat her sushi for lunc which is her favorite foods and doesn't pay attention in class much to the concern of Miss Jenkins.
  • Gratuitous Spanish: While Juanita and her parents do speak English. They would sometimes drop in some Spanish words into their sentences.
  • Good Parents: Very common in any of her children's books especially the mothers.
    • Wells even made two books about a mothers love of their children. Such as the book "Only You","Love Waves", and "Carry Me".
  • Halloween Episode: The Yoko & Friends book "The Halloween Parade" which introduces Muriel, a preschool kitten.
  • The Heart: Yoko's main role in her book appearances and in the Timothy Goes to School
  • Heel–Face Turn: Near the end of Hazel's Amazing Mother, Doris ends up apologizing to Hazel after messing with her hat and tearing up her doll. She ends up sowing Hazel's doll back together along with the other two bullies who also fix Hazel's doll carriage. Doris also became more tolerable when she returned in Timothy Goes To School, Yoko & Friends and the animated series.
    • While not present in the books, Claude does end up becoming friends with Timothy in a later episode while in the books he never got along with him.
  • Huge School Girl: Doris from the Timothy and Yoko books.
  • The Ingenue: Both Yoko and especially Lilly are prone to this. The most notable example for Yoko is in the book "Yoko Finds Her Way" and "Yoko's Show-And-Tell".
  • Invisible Parents: Especially in Max and Ruby, though this was eventually dropped.
  • Japanese Politeness: Yoko and her mother from the Yoko series.
  • Karma Houdini: A non villainous example, the original book "Timothy Goes To School" ends with Timothy and Violet becoming friends after getting tired of Claude's behavior around him throughout the book such as telling him about what clothes he wear to school or both wearing the same shirt. In the animated adaptation, after Claude pushes Timothy on the ground, he goes back to playing football with the Franks and Yoko gives a piece of her mind knowing Claude's behavior around Timothy. Claude does become friends with Timothy in a later episode of the show after he teaches Claude how to swim.
  • Keep Circulating the Tapes: Some of her older books from the 70's and 80's are usually out of print. Some haven't been reprinted for decades. Especially her earliest books such as "Impossible Possum" from 1971 and "Benjamin & Tulip" from 1973. Even Wells herself has trouble keeping track of her past books as mentioned in one of her replies to a fanmail.
    "I do not have copies of these books nor can I remember the details. It must sound strange for an author but when TV and copycat books get into the mix decisions come along fast and I don't always keep track, about 20 years and many books later!"
  • Kind Hearted Simpleton: Lilly and the Franks who commonly show up in Yoko & Friends.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Most of the characters featured in "Timothy Goes To School" and "Yoko" books are mostly seen wearing the same clothes.
    • Yoko is always seen wearing her red shirt and yellow dress. However in "Yoko's World of Kindness" she is seen wearing blue shirt with white flower polka dots and in "Yoko Finds Her Way" and "Yoko Learns To Read" she is seen wearing a purple dress. In "Yoko's Show-And-Tell" she is seen wearing a blue skirt while wearing her red shirt. Yoko is also seen wearing a different colored dress and skirt in the Yoko & Friends book "The School Play".
    • While Yoko's mother is always seen with a kimono with different colors in a few Yoko and Timothy books. In the Animated Adaptation of Timothy Goes to School she is seen wearing the same outfit whenever she shows up.
    • Lilly the Fox is the most notable, since she is mostly seen wearing a blue skirt and a green shirt (orange in the TV series). In the Yoko & Friends series, she is shown wearing a dress with overalls and a yellow shirt.
  • Long-Runners: Her Max and Ruby series has been running for 36 years.
    • Wells herself has been writing and illustrating books for 44 years, and is currently 73.
  • Meaningful Name: In the Animated Adaptation of Timothy Goes to School, Nora talks very loud and in one episode Fritz refers to Nora as "Noisy Nora" which is a reference to the original book in which Nora debuted.
  • Milestone Celebration: The book "Yoko Writes Her Name" came out on the 10th anniversary of Yoko's first book appereance. Even the story is similar to the 1998 book.
  • Mouse World: Often with rabbits, which can be seen in the "First Tomato" story from the "Bunny Planet" series.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Yoko gets this reaction in "Yoko's Show-And-Tell" after her antique doll named Miki gets broken in school, since her mother told her no but she disobeyed her.
  • No Antagonist: Especially notable in the "Yoko & Friends" series. However some of the students (mostly the characters that existed before the series and the character Yoko existed) featured in the books and the animated series stared out as an antagonist to a certain character.
    • Doris started out as a bully in the 1985 book "Hazel's Amazing Mother" until she discovers Hazel's mother arriving near the end of the story and makes it up by sowing her doll back together.
    • While Claude later got nice around Timothy in some of the books, in the original "Timothy Goes To School" book he not only thought Timothy's clothes were unnecessary to wear at school and is constantly seen showing off. As days pass Timothy starts getting more sadder and depressed after hearing Claude's comments and is later seen crying into his mother's chest and doesn't want to go to school anymore. The original ending had Claude and Grace the Bunny laughing at Timothy and Violet while they ignore what they say about them. This ending was changed in the animated series where Timothy befriends Yoko and she tells him to ignore Claude and end up playing tag with each other, after Timothy gets pushed by Claude since a football was about to hit Yoko and he tried to protect her from getting hurt by trying to catch it.
    • Sylvia and Olive from the Yoko series are mostly seen making fun of Yoko such as leaving mean and rude comments about her, mock her Japanese handwriting and her language, and the way Japanese books have to be read at least in "Yoko Writes Her Name". Near the end of the book, the class start learning Japanese handwriting and even write their names in Japanese. Sylvia and Olive get very upset and embarrassed since they couldn't graduate kindergarten because they didn't participate with the other students. Yoko notices this and starts feeling bad for the two and is kind enough to teach them in the end.
  • No Name Given: Miss Jenkins was refered to as "The Teacher" in the original "Timothy Goes To School" book until her reappearance in the 1998 Yoko book and the later release of "Timothy Goes To School" with newer illustrations.
  • Not Allowed to Grow Up: Even though the Max and Ruby series has been around for 36 years, Max has always been a toddler and Ruby has always been a child. The 2017 season of the TV show has averted it slightly by finally having Max going to school.
    • Timothy (created in 1981) and Yoko (1998) also haven't shown any signs of aging and have been in kindergarten for years. Yoko even graduated in "Yoko Writes Her Name" but is still stuck in kindergarten.
  • Nursery Rhyme: Illustrated a couple Mother Goose books in The '90s.
  • Oh, Crap!: Yoko's reaction in "Yoko's Show-And-Tell" when she realizes her antique doll named Mimi got broken on the bus after The Franks decided to toss Miki on the bus. Throughout school Yoko is so upset about Miki being broken that she couldn't eat during lunch, sing or even write. She didn't talk at all during school while holding a Thousand-Yard Stare until she gets home. Miss Jenkins decides to call her mother due to how odd Yoko was behaving at school. When Yoko's mother drives her home from school she tells her that sweet bean candy and soup will cheer her up. It doesn't work until Yoko says "No" when Yoko's mother decides to get Miki.
    • Yoko and her mother both get this reaction in "Yoko Finds Her Way". Yoko after she realizes she's lost and her mother when she realizes her daughter is missing.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: Fiona's Little Accident is about Fiona thinking this will happen to her. Her very visible and obvious Potty Failure is seen by the entire class during a major presentation that she and her best friend Felix are doing. She runs and hides, but Felix tells her to come out, telling her that nobody will even remember it by the end of the day. As it turns out, he's right, as the entire class's attention is drawn by their classmate Victor's goldfish-swallowing trick.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: While Yoko's mother is commonly seen happy and is never seen sad or angry, in the book "Yoko's Show-And-Tell" she actually gets stern with Yoko by telling her no in a more annoyed or disgusted tone due to Yoko wanting to bring her crystal doll, Miki, to school. Unlike the episode from the Animated Adaptation "The Taketombo" where she isn't mad at the Franks for breaking the taketombo (due to it being made of wood and easy to repair with glue). Yoko is afraid of showing the broken doll to her mother due to the glass being difficult to repair. Yoko's mother does forgive her after Yoko finally reveals that Miki is broken and dirty. Instead of having Yoko and her mother end up repairing it by themselves, they head to a hospital to give to a doctor who fixes Miki.
    • Speaking of sadness, in the book "Yoko Finds Her Way" her mother actually ends up getting very worried at the airport due to Yoko getting lost. She actually starts to cry when she continues searching for her daughter at the food court.
    • Yoko's mother also cries when the Netsuke family is stolen by someone in "When I Grow Up".
  • One-Shot Character: Muriel the kitten who only showed up in the Yoko & Friends book "The Halloween Parade"
    • Juanita the Mexican cat also only showed up in "Make New Friends" but did make a cameo in "Timothy's Tales at Hilltop School"
  • The One Who Wears Shoes: In the Yoko & Friends as well as the animated series, Lilly is the only student that is seen wearing shoes along with Miss Jenkins.
  • Parental Bonus: The "Clean Hands Song" in The Germ Busters from the Yoko & Friends series is stated to be sung to the tune of the classic hit song "My Boyfriend's Back" by the Angels, which was already 39 years old when this book was released.
  • Parental Neglect: While a children’s book, Noisy Nora serves as a lesson to adults not to ignore any of their kids, even if the others take up all of their time.
  • Potty Failure: The Fiona's Little Accident is about the title character being so excited for show-and-tell that she forgets to take a bathroom break and has an accident.
  • Protagonist and Friends: The "Yoko & Friends" series which mainly focuses on Yoko and her other class friends at Hilltop School.
  • Protagonist Title: The 1998 book "Yoko" which introduces the titular character.
  • Puppy Love:
  • The Quiet One: While Charles does talk, he's mostly the quietest character in "Yoko & Friends" and the animated series. Even after he becomes less shy as the books and episodes go on.
  • Rascally Rabbit: Mostly Max from Max and Ruby.
  • Rascally Raccoon: Tulip from the 1973 book Benjamin Tulip for some reason always starts fights with Benjamin.
  • Reclusive Artist: She has a short biography page on her official website. Not that much is known about her history behind her writing and illustrating career besides her interviews on various websites and her appearances at book-related events or signings. If you can get a hold of it, the video by Scholastic A Visit with Rosemary Wells has some good info.
  • Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Pleasantly averted in her Kindergators series, which actually features anthropomorphic alligators. Some of the children behave badly at times, but this only because they are young and still learning; none of them are actually truly mean or nasty.
  • Retro Universe: She enjoys writing books that have a 40s and 50s setting since she has fond memories of that era.
    • While the Max and Ruby series is still ongoing since 1979, the setting would sometimes be a mix between the 1940s and late 70s since the characters still use old fashioned radio to listen to music and a radio show. But the characters are never seen owning any television sets. Which is odd since in one of the later books and a couple episodes of the animated series would sometimes show a character owning a handheld video game called the Game Bunny.
    • In Yoko & Friends, Yoko series and the animated version of Timothy Goes to School appears to be set during the late 90s but the characters are dressed in clothes that were mostly common during the 70s and 60s while they still own 50s and 60s style cars. Television sets are also absent.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Felix and Fiona.
  • She Also Did: Worked on some of the illustrations for some of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songs.
  • Signature Style: Having her characters staring at the reader.
  • Silent Protagonist: Charles was originally this in Shy Charles, until the ending.
  • Sixth Ranger: Juanita the kitten joined the class at Hilltop School in later books of Yoko & Friends and sometimes in the Yoko series.
  • Shared Universe: It appears that the characters from Yoko & Friends, Timothy Goes To School, Emily's 100 Days Of School, and Hazel's Amazing Mother all take place in the same universe as shown in Yoko's World Of Kindness.
  • Shrinking Violet: Charles the Mouse is a rare male example. He is mostly very quiet around others and runs away when a certain person comes up to him.
  • Slice of Life: With the exception of her non-fiction books geared towards older readers.
  • Smooch of Victory: While not a victory smooch, Felix appears to get pecked on the cheek by Fiona in "Felix Stands Tall".
  • Smug Smiler: Claude at least in the animated series.
  • Spexico: Juanita is a Spanish cat. But her home resembles the type of house you would find in Spain and the way her parents dress in the TV series and some of the books appears to resemble the style you would mostly see in Mexico.
  • Spin-Off Babies: She made a few books called Baby Max and Ruby which shows Ruby as a young child and Max as a young baby.
  • Suddenly Voiced: While Charles never spoke until the end in the original book version of Shy Charles. He did speak in the TV series and in Yoko & Friends.
  • Terrible Trio: In Felix Stands Tall, we have Minkie, Bucky (two boys), and Dimples (a girl).
    • Doris (a girl) and a dog and a wolf (two boys) from Hazel's Amazing Mother
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Excluding the adults, the only way to tell which Kindergators are male or female is that the latter wear bows on their heads.
  • This Is a Work of Fiction: Her picture book Otto Runs for President makes sure it's covered legally throughout time. "The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person running for office in the past, present, or future is entirely coincidental."
  • Those Two Guys / Those Two Girls: The dog twins Frank and Frank who show up in the Yoko series and Yoko & Friends
    • The cats Sylvia and Olive from the Yoko series are always seen with each other and are mostly making fun of Yoko and her Japanese culture.
  • Thousand-Yard Stare: In "Yoko's Show-And-Tell", after the antique doll named Miki gets broken on the way to school after The Franks threw it to each other on the bus. Yoko throughout the story doesn't speak and gives a cold stare throughout school until she returns home. This is due to Yoko being guilty and scared of her mother finding out Miki is broken since Yoko disobeyed what her mother told her before she took the doll to school for show and tell. Mainly since the doll is very delicate.
  • Time Skip: Felix the Guinea Pig who was a minor character in the Emily books. Is shown to be much older in "Felix Stands Tall".
  • Token Human: While humans rarely show up in any of Wells books (Except for the ones geared towards older readers). She did do illustrations of a couple human characters in the "Mother Goose" books back in the 90's and two humans are seen in the Bunny Planet story "First Tomato" at least in the animated adaptation.
    • However her very first book, Unfortunately Harriet, from 1972 was the only book where there was a human as the main protagonist instead of an anthropomorphic animal.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Doris was previously a bully in "Hazel's Amazing Mother" but was more sympathetic and mostly a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Which might explain why Doris would get irritated and annoyed more easily in the TV series.
  • 20 Minutes into the Past: The majority of her works would sometimes take place at a certain decade such as the 1950s, 1970s, or between the 1980s and 1990s.
  • Unnamed Parent: If the parents are present, they will not have any given names. This includes the parents in Timothy Goes to School and Max & Ruby's parents once they actually became part of that franchise.
  • Valentine's Day Episode: The Yoko & Friends book "Be My Valentine" which is set during that day. There is an Animated Adaptation of that book.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: In her interview for Japan Times, Wells brought up that the first Yoko book was based on an actual event her daughters told her about a student who got made fun of because of the lunch they had.
  • Very Special Episode: Wells wrote a book in 1998 book Yoko which deals with racism. The book is about a young kitten named Yoko who is Japanese. In the book, she's getting ready for her first day at school and everything goes fine. Until lunchtime, when Yoko reveals that she's having sushi for lunch, and every student in the school (except for Timothy) makes fun of her for it. This being a children's book, they all accept her in the end. This made it into an episode of the Timothy Goes to School Animated Adaptation.
    • To a lesser extent "Yoko Writes Her Name" where two female students make fun of her Japanese writing. This time she doesn't cry unlike the 1998 book but looks hurt and confused about her Japanese handwriting.
  • World of Funny Animals: Just about all of her books she made since 1973. Some books such as the Emily series, Hazel's Amazing Mother, Yoko & Friends books, and the original Timothy Goes To School book world have various animals such as cats and bunnies.
    • Some of the other character books series such as Max and Ruby (except the book "Max and Ruby at The Warthogs Wedding"), Yoko Finds Her Way, Noisy Nora, Shy Charles, Morris Disappearing Bag, Felix Stands Tall, and Benjamin & Tulip are set in a universe all populated by a single animal species such as Max and Ruby only showing bunnies and Benjamin & Tulip only showing raccoons.
    • This trope is avoided in her books geared towards older readers where there are no anthropomorphic animals present and are a lot more serious and realistic and she doesn't do illustrations for any of them. This is most notable in her non-fiction books "Helping Children Cope with Grief: Facing a death in the family" and "Helping Children Cope With Divorce (Overcoming Common Problems)" where it's mostly text.
  • Write Who You Know: Some of her characters are based on real life people she knew or known from her daughters.
    • The characters Max and Ruby were based on both of her daughters.
    • Charles was based on her best friend from school.
    • Yoko is based on one of the Japanese students her daughters remember seeing getting teased on.
    • Many of her animal characters show behaviors influenced by behaviors she observed in her dogs.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: A Western example is Yoko's mother.

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