Anyone heading to the mountains to try skiing for the first time this season might want to take a page from the experiences of Zeke the Zebra, whose snowy adventures are recounted in a new children’s book from Dee Richards, a Napa artist and author.

“When Zeke the Zebra Hit the Slopes,”  told in rhyme and lavishly illustrated with colorful and humorous paintings, is the story of a dauntless zebra who hops onto a chairlift with his new skis, figuring that once he reaches the top, he’ll figure out what to do; meanwhile, he’ll just dream of medals.

As those of us who care to recall a first time on skis know, the first trail from the top of a mountain to the bottom is fraught with all kinds of bumps, hazards and challenges, and poor Zeke meets them all. But does he give up? No, not really. He just decides to try a sled, and then a snowboard.

This lively, charming book is the first work by Richards, a Napa native and graduate of Vintage High School.

“It is based on personal experience,” Richards told the Register.

Richards studied art at Vintage and after graduating, attended the Academy of Art College before motherhood readjusted her career timetables.

She and her husband, Wes Briz, are raising three children together, and Richards, whose day job is at a label printing company in Napa, has still managed to find time for her art.  “My kids have also provided much personal experience for my art,” she said. 

Zeke, her colorful zebra character, evolved from her high school art classes, she said.

“I was raised around horses,” she explained. “I used to draw them in class, and one day I just turned a horse into a zebra.”

Richards and her husband decided to publish the book themselves, creating Doodlebum Publishing in Napa. Zeke’s vivid images — soaring down mountains, flying through the air and tangleing with a tree — are also available as mousepads available through Doodlebum.

Richards has read her book to youngsters in local classrooms, and she said she loved seeing kids’ reactions to Zeke’s misadventures in the snow. She’s planning more books about Zeke. “I just love to draw,” she said.

“When Zeke the Zebra Hit the Slopes” is available locally at Snowdrift Sports and Baubles and Beads gift store at the Wine Train station. For more information about the book visit www.doodlebum.com or call 1 (800) 755-7277. E-mail the author at de@doodlebum.com