The author, P. J. Day and his two brothers and two sisters grew up in the magical valley of Tesuque, located just outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the family pets was a one-year-old little gray burro named Pedro. While reminiscing about that marvelous childhood Christmas Day in 2001, P. J. wrote a short poem for his daughter Jordyn, placing Pedro smack-dab in the middle of the first Christmas. A Burro's Tale evolved from that poem conceived on Christmas Day, 2001.
The setting for A Burro's Tale is in fact the Tesuque Valley. Raphael's family business in the story is renting out his burros to the townsfolk who do not have a burro of their own. The burros are rented for travel, pulling carts, plowing fields, and carrying goods from the market. Pedro, the central character in A Burro's Tale, is younger and a bit smaller than the rest of the burros and has not yet been chosen for his first day of work.
Pedro's journey throughout the story is really about the coming of age that all youngsters eventually face and learning to take his responsibilities seriously. Kids can be cruel, and Pedro's peer group in the story is no different. In order to gain acceptance, he must learn to ignore the relentless teasing from the other burros on the ranch (and a couple of mischievous horseflies) and work very hard to prove his worth. The story is filled with many valuable life lessons that all kids and young adults will relate to, because they will all go through them one day, or are being tested at this very moment. At all cost, it's about doing the right thing.