Today I welcome Jeanne Betancourt to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.
AOB: What is the title of your book? Ten True Animal Rescues, 1998, Scholastic, Inc. Pub date and publisher? Genre? Non-fiction Targeted age group? 6-10 Illustrator? No.
AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she?
Several of the stories feature dogs as a hero. The cover of the book shows a Newfoundland puppy named Villa who saved a young neighbor who was deeply buried in a snow bank and could not get out. Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.
AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.
The book has ten true stories about animals who saved the lives of their owners or complete strangers. There is a dog who saves a family from a burning house, a cat who saves a baby, and much more. These animals are more than just cute and lovable – they save lives.
AOB: What inspired you to write this story?
I read a couple of news reports about animals rescuing people and thought it would be inspiring for kids to read about them, too.
AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?
My biggest challenge was to stick to the true story and not exaggerate or make things up – like dialogue. I re-wrote the stories until I got it right.
AOB: What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones?
What are these stories about?
I wrote 44 books in my Pony Pal series. One of the three Pony Pals, Pam, has a sheepdog named Woolie. Woolie is in many of the stories and is a main character in Pony Pal #27: “The Pony And The Missing Dog.”
AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?
I am not writing a story about a dog right now. But my partner and I are talking about getting a dog.
AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?
One of my favorite books as a child was, “All Dogs Go To Heaven.” I loved that book. The dogs in heaven each tells the story of their life on earth and how they died. I read it over and over and begged my parents for a dog. I had to wait until I was an adult to finally have a dog – Willy, a Wheaton Terrier. I had him for sixteen years before he died.
AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Write, write, write. Edit. Read what you write out loud. Then edit some more. Keep a journal.
AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?
Today I welcome Laurie Myers to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.
AOB: What is the title of your book? Pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group? Illustrator?
Escape by Night: A Civil War Adventure
June 2011, Henry Holt
Children’s Chapter Book
Ages 7-10
Illustrator: Amy June Bates
AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she? Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.
Samson – a Whippet
I love Samson because he is a lot like the dog I have now – also named Samson. He is loyal, loving, and smart.
AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.
* Ten-year-old Tommy and his sister Annie are intrigued by the new soldiers arriving in their Georgia town. Since the Civil War started, wounded men waiting to be treated at the local church-turned-hospital have been coming in by droves. When Tommy sees a soldier drop his notebook, he sends his dog, Samson, to fetch it. Tommy soon meets the soldier and is faced with the hardest decision he’s ever had to make: whether or not he should help a Yankee escape to freedom.
Other links to reviews or blurbs you wish to share:
* “The succinct and simply written narrative will appeal to reluctant and younger-grade readers while the full-page black-and-white pen-and-ink sketches provide the visual time and epoch setting of the story.” –School Library Journal
“A genuine young hero learns the meaning of friendship, loyalty and freedom in this suspenseful Civil War vignette.” –Kirkus Reviews
“Sharp historical fiction, adeptly streamlined for reluctant readers.” –Publishers Weekly
“This quick and exciting chapter book isn’t shy about advancing a moral message but does so with a light touch, allowing Tommy to arrive naturally at his convictions.” —Booklist
AOB: What inspired you to write this story?
*It was a visit to Woodrow Wilson’s boyhood home. I was standing in the second floor corner room gazing out the window at the First Presbyterian Church across the street, and I began to imagine what it would have looked like during the Civil War. What would the young Woodrow Wilson have seen? The church had been turned into a hospital and Yankee prisoners were being kept in the fenced churchyard. My imagination kept growing and the next thing I knew I was writing the book.
AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?
*The research was challenging, but fun too.
AOB: What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones?
What are these stories about?
*I’ve always loved dogs and most of my books have a dog character, even if it’s just in a small part. Sometimes my own personal dogs that make their way into my books, but mostly they are dogs created for the book. Lewis and Clark and Me was based on a real dog – Seaman, Meriwether Lewis’s Newfoundland.
My mother and sister are dog lovers too and the books we’ve written together have lots of dogs – My Dog My Hero, Dog Diaries.
AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?
*My sister, Betsy Duffey (also a dog lover), and I are writing together now and our next published book is an adult Christian novel, THE SHEPHERD’S SONG. We are also working on a Christmas book, and yes, there is a dog in it.
AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?
*I have always loved books with animals – Old Yeller was one favorite, and Charlotte’s Web.
AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
*Read Read Read and Write Write Write
AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?
Long, long ago, over the course of three centuries the little village of Palekh emerged as one of the leading centers of iconic painting in Russia. Its face and long traditions, however, changed dramatically after The Great Revolution of 1917. Because of the strong bond between the House of Romanovs and the Orthodox Church of Russia, the painting of icons was prohibited. Just as the Bolsheviks persecuted the Tsar and his court, they were also determined to rid Russia of anything related to the imperial family. The Church was among the first targeted.
A Russian Icon
Nearly overnight painters of icons were out of work. While many artists fled Russia for Paris and other western countries to continue painting icons, others remained in the small Russian village of Palekh where they eventually founded the Old Painting Artel in 1924. Determined to preserve the skills that a long line of fathers had passed down to their sons, and over many meetings sipping chai, they chose to use their talent to paint miniatures on black lacquer paper-mache boxes. And since these artists were encouraged to paint safe themes, many painters turned to Russian folklore and fairytales.
Leo Tolstoy telling fairy tales to his grandchildren, 1909.
The telling of tales was an old tradition in Russia, keeping Tsars and Tsarinas entertained for endless hours. Storytellers were formally a coveted position where the oral tradition was passed down again from father to son. “This oral style of the folktale was important to the development of some of Russia’s greatest prose writers, such as Tolstoy, Pushkin, and Dostoevsky, among others.
Russian Fairy Tales by Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy remembered bedtime stories told to him by an old serf whom his grandfather had bought simply because he knew so many tales and told them so well.” (The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales, p 8.)
The Firebird
In the heart and mind of every Russian live the images of the Firebird, the Snow Maiden, Ruslan and Ludmilla, to name a few. Up until the artists of Palekh redirected their talents, these characters and tales remained primarily in Russia. But because so many artists brought these characters alive in their miniatures, interest in these fairy tales began to reach audiences well beyond Russia’s borders.
The Firebird edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was so fond of Boris Zvorkin’s work in Palekh miniatures, she brought them to the United States.
Using experience of Lukutino miniature painting and art traditions of the Old Russian masters, Golikov started to create miniatures from fairy tales. His charming and original works fascinated his former colleagues of icon painting. Many joined his efforts.
Images of early Palekh Boxes from the Palekh Museum
Even their first works found a broad response among experts in Russia and abroad. The first exhibitions of Palekh in Paris and Venice made a sensation. Golikov’s miniatures, in spite of their size, expressed a spirit of time rather well. (Lacquer Miniatures Palekh, p 3.)
Laquer Miniatures Palekh
Folklore energy soon fed the soul of miniaturist-painters and helped to shape Russian culture as seen from within and perceived from the outside. “The most popular motif in a Palekh miniature has always been and remains the image of Zhar-Ptitsa or the Firebird, known as a symbol of beauty, eternal youth and happiness.” (Lacquer Miniatures Palekh, p 15.)
Boris Zvorkin’s Original Firebird Cover
But this was not the only effort to fuel the birth of Russian fairy tales. Among those living in exile post revolution, Boris Zvorkin did his part, too. By crafting a book of fairy tales, he presented a gift of gratitude to his employer for a new life, celebrating all he valued and missed in the old. Like the counterparts he left in Russia, he, too, was drawn to the Firebird and named his book rightfully after the great bird of life.
The Snow Maiden
Years after the Russia he knew had disappeared, Boris Zvorkin tried to recapture the richness of that distant culture he held in his heart. Against a backdrop of gray Paris skies, he painstakingly wrote out in French the Russian phrases long familiar to him, and brushed his brilliant colors into pictures of onion domes and flowing rivers, gray wolves and exotic princes. (The Firebird and Other Russian Fairy Tales, p 6.)
As Russia embarks on a new journey post the fall of the Soviet Union, offering glasnost and perestroika to those who wish to express themselves without restrictions, many artists have returned to painting icons. Many more are looking for new forms of expression, sometimes denying centuries-old experience instilled by the Palekh masters to reflect the tastes of customers today. With the doors wide open and competing market tastes, I have no doubt that fairy tales will continue to remain a prominent theme among Palekh artists.
AOB: Who is your key dog character(s) and what kind of dog is he/she? Feel free to list as many different breeds or mixes as necessary. Tell us a little more about him/her.
Jack is purebred border collie. In his first book, SHEEP, which won a California Young Reader Medal, he was homeless until he met– and saved the life of–Luke, a 10-year-old orphan.
AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.
It is ten years later, Jack and Luke have been adopted and living happily on a sheep ranch in northern California. Jack is aging and though he does not want to retire, he knows it’s his responsibility to find among the other dogs a new leader. Meanwhile, coyotes in the area have been killing sheep. Jack can deal with coyotes but when a rabid wolf turns up, even he, the bravest of brave dogs, worries that an encounter with this wolf will cost him his life.
Gr 3-7–This triumphant and satisfying sequel to Sheep (Farrar, 2006) is sure to excite readers. Jack, the faithful, prizewinning Border collie, is aging but as determined as ever to fulfill his duties: protecting his boy, Luke, and their sheep from coyotes. Though his mind is quick as a wink, his body is beginning to slow and he needs to decide which of his kin will be the next great sheepherder. Just as Jack is coming close to making his decision, a new and more dangerous predator, a rabid wolf, appears and threatens the idyllic life on the ranch. Jack is faced with his ultimate moral dilemma–duty or love? Hobbs does it again in this engaging and heart-wrenching story. Not only will readers delve into the story through the eyes of Jack, but they will also catch a glimpse into the thoughts of the antagonist, creating a mixed sense of empathy and apathy, challenging them to consider the roles and perspectives of each character more fully. The story has an element of suspense and will keep children coming back for more. The author clearly respects the intellect of her young audience, creating an emotionally complex plot in which not all story lines have a happy ending. Fans of Sheep will consider this a must-read, and those who are unfamiliar with it will enjoy the story as well.–Amy Shepherd, St. Anne’s Episcopal School, Middleton, DE
KIRKUS REVIEW
In the sequel to Sheep (2006), Hobbs revisits border collie Jack and his owner, Luke, on Olaf and Katrin’s ranch.
The tale is told in the third person alternately from the perspectives of Jack, remarkably clever even for a border collie, and, in italics, that of a lonely wolf that is bitten by a large rabid rodent and then begins menacing both sheep and sheepdogs. Given this setup, there’s plenty of action to sustain interest. After the wolf kills a sheep and then one of the dogs, and another dog goes missing, Luke is determined to track and shoot the animal. Jack, his constant companion, comes along of course, though he’s torn between protecting the sheep and the other dogs, concerned about impetuous Luke and fearing that he’s losing his strength to old age. A scene depicting Jack’s performance—and loss to a younger dog—in a county-fair sheepherding trial is poignant and affecting. While the italicized sections portraying the wolf’s point of view are sympathetic to his plight, the complex struggle between sheep farmers and predators is only hinted at and then somewhat minimized by using a rabid animal to represent the predator. Jack, as in his first outing, is an attractive, very likable main character, offering lots of appeal for pet lovers.
Dog owners all know how smart their pets are; readers will lap up Jack’s tale and beg for more. (Fiction. 8-12)
AOB: What inspired you to write this story?
Visiting Wolf Haven International in Washington (state) where wolves are rehabilitated and loved.
AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?
Writing a book that was both a sequel and stand alone. I avoided using big chunks of backstory and just filled in facts where they were needed.
AOB: What other YA/MG books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones?
What are these stories about?
Besides Sheep, Maggie And Oliver is a homeless-girl- meets-homeless-dog story that takes place at the turn of the century in Boston.
AOB: I’d love to feature MAGGIE AND OLIVER on Dog Reads! What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?
In many of my books a dog plays at least a minor part. The book I just finished is about a fourteen-year-old girl living in a car with her mother in a Walmart parking lot.
AOB: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?
Clearly, I have something going with homelessness. Carolina Crow Girl, my third novel, is about a girl living in an old school bus.
AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?
I loved the Golden Book called The Poky Little Puppy (I may have that title wrong)because I was the poky little girl who was always at least twenty minutes late for kindergarten because I had to stop and examine everything on my way.
AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
The same advice everybody gives, I think, which is to READ. Read a book for pleasure the first time and study the way it was done the next time.
AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?
www.valeriehobbs.com
Thank you Valerie Hobbs for joining us at Best Dog Books!
It gives me great pleasure to welcome Christy Hale to World Reads, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a story set outside of the United States for children or young adults.
What is the title of your book? The pub date and publisher? Genre? Targeted age group?
Dreaming Up: A Celebration of Building
2012, Lee & Low Books; Non-fiction/Poetry
Interest level K-5; Reading level, Grade 3
Where is it set?
The featured buildings and architects are selected from locations around the world. The buildings are from:
USA Malaysia Egypt Japan Spain Canada Germany Colombia China England
In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.
This celebration of building is a collection of illustrations, concrete poetry, and photographs that shows how young children’s constructions, created as they play, are reflected in notable works of architecture from around the world.
Best Children’s Books of the Year: Bank Street College of Education
Silver Bells Honor List: Colorado Libraries for Early Literacy Bell Picture Book Award
Eureka Honor Award: California Reading Association
How are you connected to the setting of your story?
I lived in NYC and frequented the Guggenheim Museum. I visited La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. In grad school I took a Modern Architecture Art History class and became acquainted with some other buildings featured in this book.
What inspired you to write this story?
A germ of an idea began when I saw the sand-colored fluid turrets of La Sagrada Familia and was reminded me of a sand castle.
I lived in Brooklyn for many years and often visited museums. After my daughter was born and began playing with stacking rings I saw the Guggenheim Museum with new eyes, as an inverted stack. When she started block play I was reminded of art history class, seeing slides of Fallingwater and learning that Frank Lloyd Wright played with Froebel blocks as a child. I had three clear pairings of children’s play and iconic architecture. I began listing other ways that children build and researching modern and contemporary structures with design similarities.
What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?
My overall concept for Dreaming Up was about making visual connections between building play and existing architectural structures. The challenge was to keep this book young in feel. I wanted to provide information about the buildings and architects, so early mock-ups included captions alongside the photos. At my editor’s suggestion, I removed this text from the main section of the book. This clears space for readers to make their own discoveries. At the back of the book readers can then dig deeper and learn more about the buildings and architects. After we decided to move the informational text I showed my editor concrete poems for the very young I had written for yet another early version, in which I connected the building play and the architectural concepts in a way that is easily understood and fun. My editor encouraged me to go this direction and include a concrete poem for each illustration and photo pairing.
What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it set outside of the United States? If so, where? And what is it about?
I am working on art for a couple of books, one is a Cambodian dance book, the true story of a Khmer Rouge survivor that will be published by Tuttle. Part of the story is set in Cambodia, part in the US. I have also written a bilingual book in Spanish/English in corrido form about a true event in Mexican-American history. I am still refining this one. I have many other irons in the fire, aka half-baked projects!
What else would you like us to know about you or your story?
Not all of the buildings included in Dreaming Up are widely photographed. Sometimes I had difficulty contacting the photographer or architect to get permission to use an image. Two experiences made our big wide world feel very cozy and connected.
I hoped to use a photo of Shigeru Ban’s Paper Tube School that I found on a blog written in Cantonese. I do not speak or read Cantonese, but my sister-in-law, Wing is from Hong Kong, so I enlisted her assistance. No email contact information was listed on the blog, so Wing just posted a comment in Cantonese and included her contact information. The blog writer/photographer responded and it turned out that he studied architecture in the US, now teaches architecture in Hong Kong, and speaks English. We exchanged emails and he was very enthusiastic about my project since he has a young son. He generously provided the photo that appears in the book.
Colombian architect, Simón Vélez has built stunning structures in bamboo. I hoped to include a photo of one but after much searching the web, I still couldn’t find a way to contact him or a photographer. Fortunately, when I first saw La Sagrada Familia many years ago, I was part of a group studying painting in Barcelona, and one of the group members was Ivan, a Colombian graphic designer working out of Bogota. Years later Ivan and I reconnected on Facebook. I wrote to Ivan and explained my project and asked if he had a way of finding an address or contact information for Simón Vélez. In no time at all Ivan wrote back with a phone number saying that his friend was Vélez’s neighbor. I got up my nerve, called the architect, and spoke to him in Spanish. Vélez was kind and humble. He sent me the beautiful photo that appears in the book. He wrote to me after the book published and he received his copy, “Con este libro mis nietas descubrieron que yo soy un arquitecto como ellas.” (With this book my granddaughters discovered that I am an architect like them.)
Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?
I lived in Concord, MA when I was too young to remember, but later, when my mother read me Little Women, we lived only a short distance away and would often drive by the Alcott home in Concord. This made Alcott and the whole idea of being an author personal to me. While reading Little Women of course I loved Jo, but even though Amy was the spoiled brat of the family she captured my attention since she was an aspiring artist and I loved art. It was Amy who got to travel and see the world. I wanted to be able to do that, too.
Today I welcome Jeanne Betancourt to Best Dog Books, a blog that features interviews with authors who’ve written a canine story for kids or young adults.
AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?
