WIN AN AUDIOBOOK FOR YOUR SCHOOL LIBRARY!

Daisy loves audiobooks!

As you may know, my book A Dog's Way Home, came out on audiobook this summer. I am so excited about this because I am a passionate audiobook listener! I think I was more excited when Listening Library bought the audio rights to the book than when the film option rights were sold! Listening Library (Random House) always does such an amazing job with their productions. They produced all the the audio versions of the Harry Potter books plus many more. The readers, Emily Eiden and Chuck Carrington, have done a beautiful job of interpreting Abby and Tam.

Listening Library was generous enough to give me quite a few author copies of the book on CD. I'd like to share these with ten school libraries. The first ten teachers or librarians to email me will receive an audio version of A Dog's Way Home--and I'll pay the postage! Go to my homepage and you'll get right to my email. Good luck!

Fido and Friend in Five: Clare Vanderpool, Jack, and Millie!

One of the things I really enjoy about going to the big annual SCBWI conference in L.A is hearing the keynote speakers. As a passionate reader and long-time librarian, I love hearing authors talk about their books. At this year's conference, Patricia MacLachlan charmed us with stories about her precocious grandchildren, Ruta Sepetys had us on the edges of our seats, Dan Gutman had us laughing our heads off, Karen Cushman held us in the palm of her hand. 

And then there was Clare Vanderpool, author of the Newbery award-winning Moon Over Manifest. Clare strode out on to the stage with her long legs, gorgeous hair, and 200 watt smile, and managed to make us laugh, cry, and feel like she was our new best friend. She charmed us with stories about her husband, parents, and kids. She even showed us a little video of her daughters hanging out at home, doing the funny things kids that age do. And the girls were funny and charming (like their mom) but what caught my attention was the cute little dog who wandered into the video. My tail went straight up: Clare Vanderpool has a dog! Maybe, just maybe, she'd be on Fido and Friend in Five! Oh, but she's a Newbery Award winner, I thought, plus she has a new book coming out. She won't want to be on my little blog. But like other Newbery winners and honorees who've been on Fido and Friend--Patricia MacLachlan, Gary Schmidt, Marion Dane Bauer, Cynthia Lord, and others--Clare was most gracious with her time. 

Clare's debut novel, Moon Over Manifest, kind of came out of nowhere and won the coveted Newbery Award for 2011. I say it came out of nowhere because, as a geeky librarian, I track a lot of the talk on line about who the frontrunners are for awards like the Newbery, Caldecott, and Prinz. Not too many people had mentioned Moon Over Manifest because it had just been published that fall. A lot of us in the library world were initially surprised when it was announced that Clare's book had won the Newbery;then we were equally glad it had when we read it. Such a funny, wise, charming, and beautiful book! And I personally think it has a great cover. 

Clare has a new book coming out in January with an equally great cover. The book is called Navigating Early. I'm particularly interested in this book because it takes place on the Appalachian Trail--not only a part of the world I love but also a storied trail my stepson hiked in its entirety. 

Clare and her family share their lives in Wichita, Kansas with two adorable dogs, Jack and Millie. Let's meet them on today's Fido and Friend in Five!

1. How did you and your dogs find each other?

   I had been wanting a dog for a long time, but we'd already had the overwhelming of having a baby and getting a new puppy in the same week. Eventually, the puppy got pretty big and a very nice neighbor lady gave her a new home. So, we decided we'd wait on another dog until all the kids were potty trained. When our youngest was two and out of diapers, I began looking for a dog. We eventually found two! A fox terrier named Millie and then a chihuahua named Jack.

2. What makes Jack and Millie's tales wag?

    Lots of attention! And actually, they make each other's tails wag. They are very good buddies, and one does not like being separated from the other for very long.

3. What's your all-time favorite dog story?

Millie and Jack

    Call of the Wild and White Fang.

 4. If Jack and Millie could change just one thing about you, what would that be?

    They would probably prefer that my entire day revolved around taking long walks and long naps with them. Some days that doesn't sound like a bad idea!

5. In five words, tell us what Jack and Millie mean to you:

  Always coming home to a friendly face.

Thanks so much to the amazing Clare Vanderpool for taking the time out to share Millie and Jack's story with us! Be sure to check out Clare's website to find out all kinds
of fun information and to keep track of her new book. I can't wait to read it!

The Dogs of Winter: The story behind the story

As most of you know, I have a new book coming out October first. The book is called, The Dogs of Winter, and it's being published by Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), and edited by The Man himself! I'll be blogging about this book a bit over the next five weeks, but I thought what I'd do in this first blog is tell you the "story behind the story."

My book is based on a real child named Ivan Mishukov, and two amazing, heartbreaking, and ultimately (for me) inspiring years in his young life. Ivan, like tens of thousand of other children, found himself abandoned to the streets of Moscow in the mid 1990s. Yes, I said the 1990s, not the early part of the 20th century! When the Soviet Union fell in the early 1990s, the socio-economic impact on the people of Russia was devastating. Families who were barely hanging on by a thread suddenly found themselves without any kind of safety net. Yes, there had been food shortages and the infamous food lines when the Soviet Union was still in tact, but rent was controlled (by the government) to a minimal charge, health care was free, and pensions existed. All of that, plus much more, went away within just a few short years. By the mid 1990s there were an estimated 80,000 to 1 million children and teens living homeless on the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The vast majority of these children were considered "social orphans." They had at least one living parent. At the same time, dogs were abandoned to the streets to fend for themselves as well. Anything that required money for food, shelter and care was abandoned to the streets.

Ivan Mishukov, 1998

Most of these homeless children lived in the extensive (and elegant) underground train stations in Moscow. There, they would form packs (often lorded over by an older teen or adult) and beg, steal, and forage for food, alcohol, and drugs. They became as ever-present and invisible as the cold. They were often exploited and harmed by adults, even the police. Ivan's young age did not set him apart from the other children. Many of these "orphans" were under the age of ten. Ivan was four when he ended up on the streets. What did set him apart was the fact that Ivan, for whatever reason, chose to throw in his lot with a pack of feral street dogs rather than a pack of children. For two years, he survived the notoriously cold Russian winters and the dangers of the street by living with the pack. My book is a fictionalized account of those two years.

I first came across Ivan's story in 2005 in an article on feral children. When I read it, the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I shivered all over. I knew that if I never wrote another book (or any book for that matter) I had to write Ivan's story. I made a copy of a photo of Ivan taken not long after his capture and separation from the dogs and pinned it to the bulletin board in my office. Every day I looked at those haunted eyes and promised him I would write his story.

It took eleven years, but I kept that promise.

Fido and Friend in Five: Lois Szymanski and Rylant!

Lois S. and Fan

Okay, so you know how you meet someone and you just connect? It's like you've met a long-lost sister or brother you never knew you had? Well, that's the way I feel about Lois Szmanski. We have so much in common! We both love shelties, we both had difficult childhoods made bearbable by books. We both read the Misty of Chincoteague books over and over and over as kids, and we both feel most at home by the sea. Oh, and we are both authors. See what I mean?

Lois is the author of over 20 children's books, including fiction for young readers, picture books, and nonfiction books for kids. And many of these books reflect her love for horses and for the ponies of Chincoteague Island. Her newest book, Wild Colt, is absolutely breathtaking. Lois's love for horses has not only influenced her writing, its led her to help others. Lois helped create The Feather Fund, a nonprofit organization that helps children purchase Chincoteague pony foals. And you better believe you can find Lois (and often her faithful sheltie, Rylant) right there in the thick of things during Chincoteague Island's pony penning week! Lois also teaches writing and is very involved with SCBWI (The Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators).

And here's another thing: both Lois and I think Cynthia Rylant is the best author on the planet. Lois felt that so strongly, she named her sheltie Rylant! Let's meet this dynamic duo in today's Fido and Friend in Five:

1. How did you and Rylant find each other?

Handsome Rylant

When our family dog, Springer, passed I had a hard time adjusting to life without a dog. I was working full time by then. I thought it would be unfair to a puppy to leave him home alone so much, so I took in a cat instead. From time to time as the years passed, my daughters, Shannon and Ashley, asked if I would ever get another dog. I always said, yes, but not until I could quit work. When I do get another dog, I always said, it will be a Sheltie or a Border Collie. I love both breeds but had always adopted from shelters. (Springer was a wonderful Border Collie/Husky/Lab mix.).Ten years after Springer passed I got a great advance with a series contract and decided to leave my job at McDaniel College to write full time. By then, I’d forgotten about getting a dog. I’d settled into life with my cat, which is by the way, NOTHING like life with a dog!

That winter, my daughter, Ashley showed up Christmas morning with a puppy in her arms, a big blue bow on his neck. I melted. “You always said…” she told me. My husband shook his head, “No dogs!” he said.
“But, Dad, Shelties are really smart,” Ashley told him. “They know how to herd sheep and everything!”
“That’s just great,” he replied. “Now we’ll have to get a sheep.” We didn’t get a sheep and Ryley won over Dan in no time flat. Ash told us she’d chased ad after ad going all over the state looking for a “Sheltie that looked like a Border Collie,” which cracked me up. I named him after one of my favorite authors, Cynthia Rylant.

Agility Rylant!

2. What makes Rylant's tail wag?
Almost anything. He loves doing agility. He loves playing fetch. He loves walks in the park and rides in the car, but he goes nuts over flashlights. He chases the beam wildly, bounding over barriers and going up walls. I can’t even whisper the word flashlight without him barreling into the room. Even as I type the word I look up for him, because he might be able to hear the click of the letters and sound it out!

3. What's your all time favorite dog story?
A Dog’s Way Home of course, and I’m not just saying that because I adore you, Bobbie Pyron! I met you because of my infatuation with the book. I tracked you down! LOL! I have referred it to many people and use it in my writing class at Carroll Community College. (blush, blush...)

Mom's best boy

4. If Rylant could change just one thing about you, what would that be?
He’d make it so I could run again without falling down. He misses doing agility and would have been great in the show ring. We only tried that once and I couldn’t keep up with him. We still fool around in the backyard in small doses. When I pull out the equipment, he does donuts, barking and running to weave and jump and dash through the tunnel. He’d also probably tie himself to my body so I’d never go away without him.


5. In five words, tell us what Rylant means to you:
Happiness in motion, my friend.


Thanks so much to my dear friend and kindred soul, Lois, for visiting with us today. Be sure and check out her website to see what all she's written. She's amazing!








































































































































 

Fido and Friend in Five: Linda Johnston, Lexie and Mystie!

Linda O. Johnston

Hounds Abound

Linda O. Johnston is on a mission: to raise awareness about pet rescue. Like many of us, her love for her dogs (and their love for her, of course) has influenced her writing. Much of her fiction involves animals--shapeshifters in her paranormal romances and real animals in her mysteries. But Linda also walks the walk. She volunteers at Pet Orphans of Southern California as a "dog adoption counselor." As she says on her website, "Researching and writing about pet rescues has become my passion." And here's a really cool thing: her mystery series publisher, Penguin Group, has chosen Linda to participate in their "Read Humane Program." Berkley Prime Crime (Penguine Group) has donated a substantial amount of money to the Humane Society of the United States Animal Rescue Team. Books chosen by this "Read Humane" program get a special Read Humane seal  and special store displays. Very, very cool.

When she's not writing (and Linda is one prolific writer!) and playing with her gorgeous pups, Linda also works as a transactional lawyer writing contracts. Talk about using both sides of your brain! Let's meet this amazing woman and her lovely Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in today's Fido and Friend in Five:

1. How did you and your dogs find each other?

Guardian Wolf

Lexie & Mystie

We found our current dogs, Lexie and Mystie, at breeders. They’re Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and I fell in love with the breed decades ago on my first trip to London when I saw a woman with a couple of Cavaliers on the London Underground. When I returned to the United States I really had to hunt to find Cavaliers, since they were a rare breed back then. But I’m not the only one to love them, and now they’re a whole lot more popular--and available--now. Panda was my first Cavalier, and Lexie and Mystie are my seventh and eighth. And yes, I write Pet Rescue Mysteries now for Berkley Prime Crime and am now much more attuned to rescuing needy animals. I want Lexie and Mystie to live forever, but if I ever decide I need a new pet there are Cavalier rescue organizations that I’ll try first.

2. What makes Lexie and Mystie's tails wag?

Lexie says, "Obey me!"

Having my husband Fred and me obey their commands. Lexie likes to have our front door open so she can watch the world through our wrought iron gate, and Mystie loves for us to kick her squeaky balls. Both give us orders when they want to go outside or want treats. I love watching their tails wag so I’m likely to follow their orders. I also like it when their tails thump a rhythm on the wall or floor when they wag decisively.

3. What's your all time favorite dog story?
Can’t name just one. First of all, my favorites are my own Pet Rescue Mysteries, and the predecessor Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mystery series. I also enjoy some, but not all, books in the dogs’ point of view, such as The Art Of Racing In The Rain, by Garth Stein, and Spencer Quinn’s Dog On It. In fact, I like most books where dogs play a major role.

4. If Lexie and Mystie could change just one thing about you, what would that be?
They’d want me to be at their bark and call even more frequently--all the time!

5. In five words, tell us what Lexie and Mystie mean to you:
I’m a cynophilist; they’re family!

We're family!

Confession: I had to look up cynophilist. It means a dog fancier. Guess I'm one too! Thanks so much to Linda and her pups for visiting with Fido and Friend in Five. You can find out all kinds of cool things about Linda and her books on her website and her blog!

FIdo and Friend in Five: Martha Brockenbrough, Graham and Rosie!ham, and

Martha Brockenbrough

So what's your idea of hell? An eternal root canal? Coat shopping with your mother? Mine is being in a windowless room forever.

In Martha Brockenbrough's debut novel, Devine Intervention (Arthur A. Levine Books), there are nine levels of hell. Level 1 is Everlasting Standardized Testing for the Ungrateful. Level 2, Ballroom Dancing with the Elderly, which is especially designed for Jerks. Trust me, you don't even want to know what the 9th Level is. Let's just say it's not pretty. Or funny.

Jerome Hancock is trying very hard not to go to hell. Oh, he was no angel during his seventeen years on earth. Now, newly dead, he finds himself in heaven's soul rehab program for wayward teens. Part of that rehabilitation process is being assigned a person on earth to watch over. A guardian angel, as it were. But Jerome is not the brightest bulb in the celestial kingdom. As a result, many things go awry, including the death of his charge, Heidi. How is Jerome going to ever evade hell now?

I loved this book! It's funny and wise and compassionate. Just like Martha. One of the things I always tell writers (when I'm teaching workshops) is you have to create complex characters. One of the ways to do that is by showing their "soft underbelly"-- the thing that makes them the most vulnerable. Martha is a genius at doing this. All her characters are fully, wonderfully formed. And there's the sweetest little dog in the story too named Jiminy. I know Martha's particularly excited because the film option rights have been sold for the book! Yay Martha!

Martha also has a picture book coming out in 2013 titled The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy. This book is also with Arthur A. Levine Books, which just happens to be the publisher of my book coming out in October!

Martha founded National Grammar Day, wrote game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit, has taught high school students, and edited MSN.com. She lives in Seattle with her husband, two daughters, and their two dogs, Graham and Rosie. Let's meet the pack in today's Fido and Friend in Five!

1. How did you and your dogs find each other?

Happy Graham!

I have two dogs, Rosie and Graham. Rosie is one week older than my younger daughter, which means I had a puppy and a newborn at once. As a result, there is a yawning black hole in my mind where memories of that era existed. When I was pregnant, though, my beloved Golden Retriever that I'd had since graduation from college died of cancer. I was heartbroken, and the wonderful breeder who'd provided dogs for my family since I was 10 years old let me know she had a puppy for me if I wanted. It was actually kind of wonderful watching my baby and the puppy take naps together on their blanket. We got Graham last year from our state's Golden Retriever rescue society. He is a huge, goofy and sweet dog, and we all have an excellent time together. I homeschool my girls, and we often lean up against the dogs and read. They make excellent pillows.

2. What makes Rosie and Grahams's tails wag?

"I love mud and hate baths!"

What doesn't? One great thing about Goldens it that they are warm and enthusiastic about everything. They especially love to go to the park to chase tennis balls. And on Friday afternoons, we have a tradition of giving them something my girls call "wet chicken." It's this fancy kind of canned food that contains entire chicken wings and it sounds completely gross when you shake the can, but it's that thrilling kind of gross that kids love so much. And apparently, the dogs think it tastes mighty fine. Each dog does have a distinct passion. Graham loves tennis balls and starts to quiver when he sees one. Rosie likes sleeping on the bed. But only when it's been neatly made. The kids think it's hilarious to sneak in and find her every morning on the freshly made bed. And she does give this great, "What, am I in trouble?" look.

3. What's your all-time favorite dog story?

Besides A DOG'S WAY HOME? I also love THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein. 

4. If Graham and Rosie could change just one thing about you, what would that be?

They do not understand why I need to wipe their paws when they come inside. If the floors got muddy enough, it would be like being at the park all the time. And what could be better than that? 

Rosie and Graham and Girls

5. In five words, tell us what Rosie and Graham mean to you:

Dogs are a family's heart.


Thanks so much to Martha, Rosie and Graham
for visiting with us today! If you want to read a book that's funny, wise, and thought-provoking, be sure to pick up DEVINE INTERVENTION! And be sure to visit Martha on her website and her blog. 

Fido and Friend in Five: R.J.Palacio, Bear and Beau!

Being in the library business as I am, I hear a lot of pre-pub "buzz" and hype on new books coming out--some of it ultimately disappointing. Not so with R.J. Palacio's heartfelt, uplifting, and beautifully realized debut novel, Wonder. I was relieved to read in a recent article that it's "a children's book that's making grown men cry." I was sobbing as I read the last third of the book on a flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake City. Thank goodness is was at night and the cabin was dark! Palacio's book is also being compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. But just between you and me, I think Wonder is the better book.


Wonder recounts a year in the life of ten-year-old August, as he grapples with a huge change in his life: he's entering public school for the first time. Auggie is just like any other kid: he loves Star Wars, and his dog Daisy, and rides his bike and plays games on his XBox. But Auggie has one thing that other kids don't have: a severely deformed face. As Auggie says on the first page, "I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse." It is that kind of gut-punching, yet simple honesty that makes not just Auggie but all of the character's in this book so absolutely true and memorable. There are so many Moments in this book--moments of humor, moments of cruelty, moments of heartbreak, and moments of joy. And most importantly, there are moments of great kindness. R.J. described Wonder as a "meditation on kindness." Do you know how happy that makes me? With the plethora of books depicting kids (usually in a dystopic future) as brutal survivors, a book that celebrates choosing kindness is beyond refreshing. It's essential.

U.K cover

The author was inspired to write Wonder by a little girl and a song. About five years ago, Palacio and her two young sons were in an ice-cream parlor, and found themselves sitting next to a little girl who had severe facial deformaties. When her three-year-old son saw the girl's face, he began to cry, rather loudly. "I got us up as quickly as I could to remove us from the scene," Palacio recounts. "Not for my sons' sakes but to spare the little girl's feelings. As I pushed my youngest son's stroller  away I heard the little girl's mom say, in as sweet and calm a voice as you can imagine, 'Okay, guys, I think it's time to go.' And that just got me." She thought and thought about that scene as she and her sons drove home. Then, on the radio, she heard Natalie Merchant's song, "Wonder." The magic was triggered. By the time she got home, the book had pretty much written itself in her head.


R.J. Palacio has worked in publishing all her adult life. She's worked for a long time as an art director and book jacket designer at a major publishing house. And still does! She lives in New York City with her husband (who's also in publishing), two sons, and her two dogs, Bear and Beau. Oh, and she also has a wonderful literary agent, who just happens to be the same one I have. Let's meet R.J. and Bear and Beau in today's Fido and Friend in Five!


1. How did you and your dogs find each other?

Bear and Beau

My younger son and I first saw Bear in an adoption van in our neighborhood. There were at least six other puppies there, but I really just fell in love with Bear. I knew the last thing my husband and I planned on getting was a new dog, though, so I found the wherewithal to walk away without even inquiring as to its name or ID number. Later that day I happened to mention to my husband that I fell in love with a dog on the adoption van around the corner, and he went to look. Out of the seven puppies there, he knew exactly which one was the one I had fallen in love with. But he had the wherewithal to walk away from the van, too. We didn't want a new dog. The next day he woke up saying that he couldn't stop thinking about the puppy we had seen. It was meant to be ours. We tracked down the van: it belonged to the North Shore Animal League. When we called them up, though, they said they had no way of knowing what puppy we were talking about. We described him, and they said they had dozens of puppies that looked just like what we were describing. So my husband drove an hour and half away to the North Shore Animal League to see if he could find the puppy we had both fallen in love with, at separate times, knowing the odds were against us because a) he had probably already been adopted, and b) if he wasn't, he was probably on another adoption van somewhere in NYC. Luckily, our little puppy hadn't been adopted, and my husband found him there, as if he'd been waiting for us the whole time. We named him Bear because he looked like a little black bear cub.

Beau was a little easier. I got him from a breeder. He's easily the sweetest dog I've ever had in my life.


2. What makes Bear and Beau's tails wag?

Odysseus & Argos

Us. My kids. Being around anyone who wants to kiss them and play with them.


3. What's your all-time favorite dog story?

Hmm, that's a tough question. My favorite dog story of all time is the story of Argos and Odysseus. Argos was the dog he left behind as a puppy, and twenty years later, when Odysseus returns to Ithaca disguised as a beggar, Argos is the only one who recognizes him. The dog, now beyond old, has only enough strength to raise his head and wag his tail in recognition of his beloved master, and then he dies. 

4. If Bear and Beau could change just one thing about you, what would that be?

That I would take them on longer walks. 


5. In just five words, tell us what Bear and Beau mean to you:
They bring me much joy.


Thank you so much to the amazing R.J. Palacio for taking time out of her busy schedule for being on Fido and Friend with Bear and Beau. Truly, you must read Wonder. And check out her website to view a trailer for the book and find out other exciting news!