Today I welcome Lindsey Stoddard to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults. Lindsey Stoddard is here to talk about BRAVE LIKE THAT which is a middle grade novel published by HarperCollins for kids aged 8-12.
Best Dog Books: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?
The dog in BRAVE LIKE THAT is a stray who wanders up to a firehouse on the night of my main character Cyrus’s eleventh birthday. He has wiry brown hair, and two white patches, one over his left eye and one on the tip of his tail as if he dipped it in paint. He’s skittish around the firefighters, including Cyrus’s dad, but he’s not around Cyrus, who gets down low and holds out his hand, and before long, the dog’s head is parked on Cyrus’s shoulder, giving him his name— Parker.
Best Dog Books: Tell us about your story.
BRAVE LIKE THAT is the story of eleven-year-old Cyrus, who was left on the steps of a firehouse when he was a newborn, and adopted by one of the firefighters, a local football legend named Brooks Olson. Everyone expects that Cyrus will be the next great wide receiver, but no one knows that he doesn’t want to be. He’s just not brave like that, brave like run into a burning building brave, brave like full tackle football brave, brave like his dad. But, with the help of stray-dog Parker, his fierce grandma, a tight-knit group of girls he meets at the humane society, and a new kid who moves to town, Cyrus must discover what kind of brave he is as he takes on some big issues in his life at the beginning of middle school.
Best Dog Books: What inspired you to write this story?
When I was ten, I found a stray dog in the woods behind my house in Vermont. She was skinny and scared and had no collar. I sat down in the woods a great distance away and watched the dog, and I named her Jen. She took off when she saw me, but I spent the rest of the day calling for her until finally, right before I had to go in for dinner, I saw her peek out from a tree. I got down low, put my hand out for her to smell and she slowly pawed toward me and followed me home. My mom and I loaded her in the car and took her to the vet where they discovered she was malnourished and pregnant with six puppies. I wanted to keep Jen so much. I didn’t want to leave her at the sterile vet’s office. I didn’t want her to go to the Humane Society. I wanted to take her home and care for her and make sure she wasn’t scared. But we already had a wonderful dog, and my parents assured me there wasn’t room in our family for another. I thought about Jen and her six puppies all the time, hoping that she was OK and feeling safe, and I visited her at the humane society until they found her, and each of her puppies, a home. This emotion of desire and worry and immediate connection was the birth of Cyrus and Parker’s relationship and my novel, BRAVE LIKE THAT.
Best Dog Books: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?
During the writing of BRAVE LIKE THAT, we had our second baby and moved from NYC to VT with a 1.5-year-old and a newborn. What little routine I had in the city was upended as we navigated finding a new home and child care. But books are written one word at a time and I slowly found a new routine, in a new place. I think being a classroom teacher for ten years taught me to love structure, but also to be flexible enough to toss the structure out and build a new one.
Best Dog Books: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what can you tell us about it?
My next book is called BEA IS FOR BLENDED and it’s due out in 2021. For Bea, it’s always been just her and her mom. But now, her mom is marrying Wendell. And what’s worse is that Wendell has three sons, two dogs, and a cat. And what’s even worse is that one of those sons is in her class, Bryce Valentine, the biggest bully-follower of all time. The dogs in this book, Dodger and Roscoe, are very closely bonded with Bryce, and initially Bea has no idea why. But as she learns more about what it takes to make a team, she learns more about Bryce, and why those dogs might be guarding his heart.
Best Dog Books: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?
On May 1st my husband, kids, and I adopted our first family dog! She’s a 6-month-old, half basset hound, half black lab, rescue pup from Texas. Her name is Chloe and we are currently showing her all the love (and all the rules).
Best Dog Books: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? Why?
I have always been a big reader and even before I could read, a big lover of books and stories. The first one that really hit me in the gut was BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. It was the first book that made me close the pages and cry. And I was so grateful, because I think middle grade readers are seeking out these big emotions, big experiences, fear, loss, anger, etc. I felt like the author, Katherine Paterson, trusted me with the truth, no sugar-coating, just the truth about friendship and loss and guilt and the scary, awful things that can happen to characters and people you love.
Best Dog Books: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
I didn’t realize it then, but all of the initial inspiration for my books came from tiny little seed ideas from when I was nine, ten, eleven, twelve years old. So young writers: even if you aren’t drafting stories or keeping journals, and even if you don’t think you have any good or worthy ideas— remember to be in the moment. Experience all the honest emotions you have. Feel them all the way through. When I was ten, I was angry about a boy who hit a bird’s nest out of a tree in my yard with a wiffleball bat, and sad and confused about my grandpa’s failing memory. Twenty-two years later I wrote JUST LIKE JACKIE. When I was twelve, I felt wracked with guilt and worry when I agreed to do a favor my brother asked me to do. That was the seed for RIGHT AS RAIN. And when I was nine, I found a stray dog in the woods behind my house. And now, I am so excited to be launching, BRAVE LIKE THAT, out into the world.
If you’d like to learn more about Lindsey Stoddard, you can check out the author’s website or follow the author on twitter or on Instagram . You can also find book reviews from Kirkus:
Thank you Lindsey Stoddard for joining us at Best Dog Books. We look forward to reading your book!
For other great books about dogs, check out 101 Best Dog Books for Kids.
For published authors and unpublished authors, check out our writing contests.
