These story books are about a little girl named Zaya who loves to play with her crazy grandfather Zach. Grandpa thinks up silly games, but he doesn't always think through their ramifications. Sometimes, meaning most of the time, Zaya is too smart for Grandpa and turns the tables on him, getting him back for his crazy ways. The games easily get out of control and other family members get sideswiped in the brouhaha. The stories are based on games the author played with his children and is now playing with his granddaughter. Actually, the origin of sock ball tag goes back to Griff's father who made sock balls and tossed them at Griff and his brother playing sock dodge ball with them when they were kids.

These books are meant to be read to young children by parents, grandparents, nannies and others. As you read them, you and your children will have the most fun when you demonstrate what the characters are doing. You can also point out things in the pictures that are not contained in the text. Like Grandpa's eyes are crossed, or the sock monkey is sliding down the stair railing.

The real fun begins when you start playing the games with your children and improvising new ways to play. Maybe even more fun is making up your own games to play. If you do, send us an email about your game and how much fun you have.

You can read samples of the books by clicking on the book covers.

The books are available in ebook, paperback and hardback versions at Amazon.com. To find them easily, click here or use this phrase in the Amazon search box: Zaya and the * Game by Griff Kennedy

You may find that you are reading these books again and again. So you don't have to read the same book 600 times, Griff has written more than one book.

Get a version of the books that will stand up to the intensity of your child. For example, when Zaya falls into a lake of chocolate, some children have been known to lick the page. You also may not want tongue prints on your phone or tablet.

Don't try any of these activities at home without first making sure you are physically fit enough to not injure yourself or your child. Please be careful. Safety first, fun second.

We hope you enjoy reading these stories, and if you have any comments, send us an email (Griff@GriffKennedy.com) and tell us about your experiences.

Now an old retired guy with white hair and gray beard, Griff was an English Major and Art Minor at college (because he much preferred reading poetry and drawing pictures over reading physics and calculus textbooks). His work career included jobs in newspapers, magazines, advertising, graphic design and web site development, all because he still preferred playing with words and pictures, instead of doing real work. Currently he lives in Minnesota, well, most of the year. When the weather turns so cold your tears freeze your eyelashes together, he likes to escape with his wife in a camper van to warmer places like Florida, Texas, Arizona and California, visiting national parks and playing golf, in the elusive pursuit of shooting your age, which he thinks is the only reason to look forward to getting older. He doesn't like to stay away too long, though, because his granddaughter lives in Minnesota, and he likes to play silly games with her. He thinks that's why grandchildren were invented, so that when you can't remember what you did last week, but can remember what you did when you were six, you can have someone of similar mindset to hang out with. Since he now thinks like a six year old, he figured writing children's books and drawing cartoon characters might be an appropriate hobby.