Today I welcome Alison Hart 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?

Darling Mercy Dog of World War I

Peachtree Publishers Oct. 2013

Fiction Dog Stories

8 – 10

Illustrator: Michael Montgomery

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.

*Darling is the key character. She is a herding dog from Cosham, England.  She has a devoted family, but when father goes to war, and the dog tax increases, her family must “volunteer” her for the war effort.

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

*During World War I, dogs were used for many purposes. Darling is ‘drafted’ into the war and is trained as a mercy dog, who locates wounded soldiers on the battlefield. She travels to Belgium with her new handler, where she must prove herself in the Battle of Messines.

AOB: What inspired you to write this story?

*I have been writing about horses and their roles in history for Peachtree Publishers, with the series Gabriel’s Horses as well as Anna’s Blizzard and Emma’s River. It was time to tell the dog side of history—and of course, I am a dog lover!

AOB: How are you connected to your setting?

*I have traveled both to Belgium and England, but the real setting is war. I wrote about the Civil War in Gabriel’s Horses, but this was the first time I had researched World War I. It was eye-opening.

AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

* I wrote about a real battle in Belgium, The Battle of Messines.  It was a long and horrific battle. The allies won, but really, no one won because the devastation was so vast. Retelling this in a dog’s pov was tricky. Plus, I needed it to be realistic yet suitable for young readers.

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?

*This is my first book and series with a dog as key character. I have written over sixty books for young readers with publishers from Random House (Shadow Horse, Whirlwind and two books in the Horse Diary series) to American Girls (the InnerStar University series). With Peachtree, I have written terrific historical fiction and I am so proud of Darling. Peachtree picked an exceptional artist, Michael Montgomery, who will also be illustrating the next book in the Dog Chronicles called Murphy Gold Rush Dog.

AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

*Murphy is set in Nome, Alaska during the gold rush of 1900.  The theme is survival and as in Darling, bravery. Murphy will have many adventures, ones involving both the lawless town and the harsh Alaskan environment. Expect moose and a grizzly!

AOB: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

*I love writing for young readers!

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

*I was hooked on the Billy and Blaze stories which combined animals and adventure (and great art.)

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

*Writing takes great creativity. Publishing takes great determination. You need both to make it.

AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

*My website. It desperately needs updating to add Darling.

Thank you Alison Hart for joining us at Best Dog Books!

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.

When I was a child, whenever I saw the word ‘Prologue’ in a book, I immediately skipped over it and headed straight to chapter one where I was more likely to be planted into the action and heart of the story. My opinion of prologues began to change after I read Carnegie Medal book winner, Tamar written by Mal Peet. The prologue in Tamar hooked me and carried me through four hundred and twenty four pages of fine print until I got the answer to the question that set up the hook. And it was this “ah-ha” moment that led me to dig more deeply into the function of prologues. My research on prologues also inspired my Vermont College of Fine Arts critical thesis entitled, “To Prologue or Not to Prologue” and showed me how to fix the opening of my debut novel, Lara’s Gift.

My all-time favorite prologue is the one that Markus Zusak wrote in The Book Thief. It ambitiously and successfully frames the book thief’s story and hints at each of the major plot points: the inciting incident, the climax, and the resolution.

Markus Zusak uses a prologue to introduce us to his narrator:  Death. The reason the prologue works so well in The Book Thief is because Death is such an unlikely narrator that we need time to get to know him, as well as his perspective and what that perspective adds to the protagonist’s struggle in the story.

The prologue of The Book Thief is divided into 5 sections:

– The Title Page which gives us a bullet-point-outline of the prologue content;

– The “Death and Chocolate” chapter in which the Narrator introduces himself—the colors—and—the book thief;

– The “Beside The Railway Line” chapter in which Zusak hints at the inciting incident;

– “The Eclipse” chapter in which Death offers a possible resolution; and finally

– “The Flag” chapter in which Zusak shows us a glimpse of the climax.

It is in this last section that Death leaves us with … the colors … red, white, and black … and given what we know about the history of Germany, a subliminal notion of the Nazi Party Flag might linger in our mind as we read on.

Through the prologue, Zusak builds a frame that scales down a potentially big story by focusing our attention on:  Death as the narrator; the changing colors of the sky and what that means to the story; as well as the book thief as a survivor.

At some point in time, I will be standing over you, as genially as possible.  Your soul will be in my arms.  A color will be perched on my shoulder.  I will carry you gently away . . . The question is, what color will everything be at that moment when I come for you?  What will the sky be saying? . . . It’s the leftover humans.  The survivors.  They’re the ones I can’t stand to look at . . . I deliberately seek out the colors to keep my mind off them . . . this is the story of one of those perpetual survivors—an expert at being left behind . . . a girl . . . I saw the book thief three times. (4-5)

We are immediately drawn to the original voice of the narrator and begin to wonder who the book thief is and how she came to be one. Although we learn she’s a survivor, we are still pulled into her story because being left behind comes with its own struggles.

An e-mail from the editor, Erin Clarke states that “the prologue sets up the story perfectly . . . giving us a peek of things to come.”  What Clarke is referring to are the three times Death meets the book thief and what these three encounters come to mean for the story as a whole. Through Death’s perspective using color, Zusak’s prologue gives us a glimpse of these three encounters.

For example, when the book thief loses someone to death for the first time, Death describes her loss by the color of the sky.

It was white . . . of the blinding kind . . . It felt as though the whole globe was dressed in snow . . . Trees wore blankets of ice . . . someone had died . . . there was one mother and her daughter.  One corpse. (6-7)

In her second experience, Death describes her loss by the blackness of the sky.

“a signature black…the darkest moment before dawn . . . the final moment of eclipse—the recognition of another soul gone.” (9-11)

In the third encounter, Death describes the sky as red.

. . . like soup, boiling and stirring.  In some places, it was burned.  There were black crumbs, and pepper, streaked across the redness . . . the sky was a devastating, home-cooked red.  The small German town had been flung apart one more time . . . a mountain range of rubble.  Snowflakes of ash fell . . .  (12-13)

In each of the three glimpses Death gives us in the prologue, he leaves out who has died. Because we trust these deaths are meaningful to the story, we turn the page and immediately wonder who has died and how these deaths will affect the book thief.

In chapter one, Zusak opens with the first death, that of the book thief’s younger brother, described by Death by the color white.  Not only is white one of the colors of the Nazi Party Flag, it also symbolizes the book thief’s virginal experience with loss.

Her brother’s death and the consequences that follow set the book thief’s story in motion.

In the second encounter with Death, the blackness of the sky also reflects one of the colors of the Nazi Party Flag as Death comes for an English bomber pilot who has crashed his plane near the book thief’s village.

When the book thief’s best friend, Rudy, is first to find the plane, he places a teddy bear onto the dying, enemy pilot’s shoulder.  Rudy’s act of kindness shows us the importance of forgiveness, something the book thief will need to embrace in order to survive the war and all of the deaths of those she loves because of it.

The third encounter with Death comes at the climactic moment of the novel just after a bomb hits her village and turns it into “a mountain range of rubble.”  Although the book thief has survived, she has lost everyone she loves.

Death describes her loss through a red sky which is the dominant color of the Nazi Party Flag, and the color that represents the spilt blood around her and the emotional anguish the book thief feels.

Not until we see these three encounters played out in scene do we realize the brilliance of Zusak’s prologue.  These three encounters come to correspond to the inciting incident, a possible resolution and the climax—all of which are important plot points that relate to the heart of the story and the book thief’s struggle.

By revealing these three encounters in the colors of the Nazi Party Flag, Zusak enriches the story and sets a tone of foreboding that anchors us in the period in which this story takes place.  His use of color adds another layer of emotional depth to the book thief’s state of mind as she struggles with being left behind.

For more information about Markus Zusak, click here.

To read an interview on the eve of the movie launch from Markus Zusak, click here.

For an article on the making of the movie, click here.

Find Markus Zusak on Facebook.

Follow Markus Zusak on Twitter.

Dog Reads would like to start the New Year off with Lynn Hall, an author who has written numerous dog stories for kids. Let’s welcome Lynn Hall to Best Dog Books, a blog that features authors and/or illlustrators who’ve created a dog story for kids.

I re-discovered Lynn Hall again when not long ago I read RIFF, REMEMBER about a borzoi so devoted to its pet boy, Gordy that Riff seeks justice when harm has come upon Gordy. I say “re-discover” because when I tried to find Lynn Hall on-line to ask her if she would do an interview with Dog Reads, through my search I recognized a lot of her covers from my youth such as MURDER AT THE SPANIEL SHOW. I had picked it up at Forbes Library in Northampton, Massachusetts because I loved reading mysteries and/or dog stories. And this title accomplished both!

Many of Lynn’s books are sadly out-of-print, but can be found on Amazon. I’m hoping this post will find its way to an editor/agent who loves dog stories enough to consider bringing some of Lynn’s dog (and/or horse) stories back into print.  

Lynn, what kind of dogs have you had?

*a sheltie, a golden retriever, and many collies, Bedlington terriers, and English cocker spaniels.

How did you learn how to write? What steps did you take to write your first novel?

*I went to the library, checked out a bunch of YA and MG books, and read them. I studied them by looking at why some were good and some were bad. The first book I wrote did not get published because the main character failed to grow or change. Things just happened to the main character. So I wrote a second story called THE SHY ONES with that in mind and it did get published.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

*Self-discipline is very essential to writing. You need to arrange big chunks of time to get into your fictional world and character. You also need to be comfortable with being alone with your words. Writing is a solitary life.

What kinds of jobs did you do before you began writing?

*I was a vet assistant and once worked with a professional dog handler.  When I sold my first book, THE SHY ONES, I was a secretary in a juvenile parole office. The advance was $400 back then. As soon as I became a published author, I looked up some Ad agencies in the telephone book. The first one I called gave me a job as a copywriter. Within four years, I quit that job and became a full-time writer.

How did you decide to become a writer?

*I fiddled around with writing an adult novel. But after I read a children’s girl horse story I bought in a bookstore, I realized I could do a better job because I know horses. The book I read had lots of mistakes in it. Horse stories were popular back then.

What was your biggest moment in your writing career?

*Getting the first book accepted had me dancing the dance of joy for a long time. Also noteworthy in my career were some of the awards I won like: Boston Globe Horn Book Award for THE LEAVING which I also came to learn later had tied for the Newbery in 1980. Back then when there was a tie, the medal was given to a third book. My books have also won Children’s Choice Awards and THE SOLITARY won the SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Book Award. I’ve also won a number of Iowa State book awards.

What was your lowest moment in your writing career?

*When I didn’t get the Newbery. Everyone was telling me, “It’s your turn! You’ll win this year!” So when it went to another book, I was disappointed because I was expecting and hoping to get it.

How did your story ideas come to you?

*They came mostly from my interest in life and life’s problems.

What is your favorite dog story and why?

*THE MORE I SEE OF MEN (the better I like my dog) – it’s an adult book and a humorous look at the dog show world.

How do you think the publishing industry has changed since you started? What are the positive changes? And the not so positive changes?

*I’ve been disconnected from the publishing world now for about twenty years. The big change seems to be that many people are self-publishing on-line today than they were when I was writing.

What was the publishing process like when you first submitted? Did you have an agent? How long did it take before you heard back after you submitted your first manuscript? How did you find your first editor? Did you work with this editor for most of your career?

*I didn’t have an agent. I worked directly with an editor for each of my books. Because I grew up in the Midwest, I sent my first manuscript to a Chicago publisher called Follett. Their author, Irene Hunt had just won the Newbery with her second book, UP A ROAD SLOWLY and her first book won the Newbery Honor. While Follett was well respected, I thought they might be more open to an author from the Midwest versus a New York publisher.

Are there any more stories inside you? If so, what are they?

*There are no more stories, partially because I don’t feel I have as much in common with youngsters today. They seem more focused on technology. Overall, I’m glad I got into it when I did and glad I got out when I did.

If you could change anything in your writing career, what would it be?

*Nothing. I enjoyed it all immensely and was as successful as I needed to be and it was a whole lot better than a day-job. I got to be my own boss doing something creative. My books gave me everything I wanted: a life in the country with my dogs and my horses.

Here is a list of some of the dog books Lynn Hall has written and the breed associated with the story:

Riff, Remember (borzoi)

The Soul of the Silver Dog (Bedlington terrier)

Murder at the Spaniel Show (springer spaniel)

Dog of the Bondi Castle (Irish wolfhound)

Shadows (collie)

Windsong (greyhound)

Stray (mixed breed)

Mystery of the Schoolhouse Dog (mixed breed)

Owney The Travelling Dog (true story about a mixed breed)

Flash: Dog of Old Egypt (saluki)

Danger Dog (Doberman pinscher)

Barry: The Bravest Saint Bernard (Saint Bernard)

To Catch a Tartar reprinted as Nobody’s Dog (Scottish deerhound)

The Tormentors (German shepherd)

Troublemaker (mixed breed)

Letting Go (sheltie)

Bob: Watchdog of the River (Newfoundland)

Dog Stories (border collie and other breeds)

Halsey’s Pride: A Novel (collie)

How can Best Dog Books followers learn more about you? Are you on any social media platforms?

Amazon Author Page        

Lynn Hall Fan Page by Sharon Turner    

Owney The Travelling Dog

Article: An Adolescent’s Best Friend: The Roles of Animals in Lynn Hall’s Fiction

Article: Choosing Books for Today’s Women

Thank you for giving me so much time, Lynn Hall. I feel honored to have crossed paths with you and hope that our friendship will continue to grow out of mutual interest in writing and dogs.

Happy New Year!

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.

Today I welcome Meg Kearney 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?

Trouper

11/1/13

picture book, ages 3 & up

illustrator: E.B. Lewis

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.

Trouper is a three-legged black Lab, and his story is based on my own black Lab by the same name. He has several friends who run with him (his “mob”) in the beginning of the book, before they’re picked up by a dog catcher: Hunter, Tugger, Digger, Dice, Big Bear, Sweet Girl, Curley, and Boo. They are all mix-breeds; illustrator E.B. Lewis visited his local shelter in New Jersey and used dogs there as models for the dogs in the book. He also spent a weekend at my home photographing the “real” Trouper, who is the book’s protagonist and narrator.

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

The fictional three-legged Trouper narrates his story in verse, telling his young owner about “the before time” when he “ran with a mob of mutts.” After a dogcatcher captures him and his pals and locks them in cages at the pound, Trouper’s friends are adopted one by one, until he is the only dog from his group left. Then, at last, a boy sees and falls in love with him(“My heart was a cold, starless night—/ until your face/ shone through the bars/ like a mini sun”). By the end of the book, the two are home, where life is good.

Links to reviews or blurbs.

AOB: What inspired you to write this story?

My own dog, Trouper, who is truly aptly named. When he was picked up running the streets of Ponce, Puerto Rico, his back right leg was severely injured. He was taken to a “kill shelter,” but the man who was supposed to put him down couldn’t do it—Trouper was too sweet, to gentle, even with his mangled leg. So the man called the woman who ran a local shelter; she rescued him, had the leg amputated, and nursed him back to health. He was put up for adoption in February of 2005, and was still waiting when I found him that September. People had passed him over because of his missing leg, but all one had to do was look at his face to see what a special soul he is. Now I have to believe that he was in that shelter all those months because he was waiting for me to find him. Anyway, this dog inspires everyone he meets, and I had to write a story that honored his spirit.

AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

The first line! I just kept at it for months—and finally it came. All in all, the first draft took me about a year to write. And that was just the beginning!

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 have a middle-grade verse novel titled THE SECRET OF ME, and its sequel is a YA verse novel titled THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR. Neither features a dog character, though the third book in this “Lizzie McLane” trilogy probably will.

AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

I’m working on the third book in my MG/YA verse-novel trilogy, mentioned above. The books are told in the voice of Lizzie McLane, the youngest of three adopted children. Lizzie searches for her identity, her heart, and—finally—her birthmother. The first two novels feature guides to the poems (as back-matter) as well as teacher guides, as I hope they make young people interested in writing and reading poetry, and that they help teachers with their poetry units in the classroom.

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

Jane Eyre. I’ve always been fascinated by stories about orphans and adoptees, probably because I’m adopted myself.

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read, read, read. Make writing a regular practice—the more you write, the stronger your writing “muscles” will be come. But never stop reading!

AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

Web page

Facebook: Meg Kearney

Twitter: @KearneyMeg

Thank you Meg Kearney for joining us at Best Dog Books!

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.

Today I welcome Stephanie Calmenson 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?

NO DOGS ALLOWED! (Ready, Set, Dogs! – Book 1)

by Stephanie Calmenson and Joanna Cole

October 1, 2013  Henry Holt/Macmillan

Fiction/chapter book  Ages 6 – 9

Illustrated by Heather Ross

ISBN: 9780805096453

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.

* Kate and Lucie are mixed breed dogs.  Wait, now they’re girls.  No, they’re dogs!  Girls…dogs… girls…dogs!  Well, when they’re dogs, Kate is a Jack Russell mix.  Lucie is a … um…uh…she’s…hmm.  Your call!

AOB: In 70 words or less, provide a succinct plot description of your story.

* Kate and Lucie are best friends who desperately want, but can’t have dogs.  At The Lucky Find Thrift Shop one day, they find two sparkly pink dog bone necklaces. Trying them on in the dressing room, they like what they see, say “Woofa-woof”, and give each other high fives. With a pop and a whoosh, the necklaces light up and Kate and Lucie are no longer girls — they’re dogs!

Woofa-wow!

Does your book have a starred review from Kirkus? If so, can you provide the link:

*Not reviewed yet.

Other links to reviews or blurbs you wish to share:

Amazon’s “Best Children’s Books of 2013” Ages 6 – 8

AOB: What inspired you to write this story?

* Co-author Joanna Cole and I wanted to write books for kids who, like us when we were growing up, want a dog more than anything but can’t have one.

AOB: What was the biggest challenge you had writing your story? How did you overcome it?

* We needed to find the magic that would transform the girls.  The dog bone necklaces seemed the perfect solution.

AOB: What other books have you written? Do any of them feature a key dog character? If so, which ones? What are these stories about?

* I’m best known for my picture books for young children.  The Ready, Set, Dog! series is my first venture into this format.

AOB: What kind of story can we expect next from you? Is it about a dog? If so, what is it about?

*    I’ve written two nonfiction books about my own dogs.  One book is Rosie, A Visiting Dog’s Story about raising, training and volunteering with a Certified Visiting Dog who cheers people when they are sad, or sick, or lonely.

The other book is May I Pet Your Dog? The How-to Guide for KIDS Meeting DOGS (and DOGS Meeting KIDS) in which my dachshund Harry has fun teaching kids (and adults, too!) the safe way to meet dogs.

Next up is a (mostly) true story about Harry and his best friend, Jeeter, a poodle.

AOB: What else would you like us to know about you or your story?

* I grew up with a mom who liked dogs, but was very afraid of them.  So, as a kid I didn’t have a dog and didn’t get to spend much time with any.  As soon as I was living on my own and working at home, I got the  dog I’d always dreamed of — Rosie. I’ve had a dog in my life ever since and dogs have become a large part of my writing life.

AOB: Can you remember the first book that made an impact on you? And why?

* Heidi by Johanna Spyri.  Her grandfather’s love, the Swiss Alps setting, the joy Heidi brought to Clara and how she helped Clara to walk touched my heart.  I almost gave Rosie the name Heidi, hoping she’d make others happy the way Heidi did. I ended up naming her Rosie because I immediately saw her rosie disposition and, sure enough, she’s brought much joy to many people.

AOB: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

* Write about what you love.

AOB: Where can readers go to find out more information about you and/or your books?

Web page: site currently works on computers only, not tablets or phones; new site in the works

Facebook

Rosie, A Visiting Dog’s Story

May I Pet Your Dog?

Twitter

Linkedin

Children’s Literature Network

Thank you, Stephanie Calmenson, for joining us at Best Dog Books! We look forward to your future dog books!!

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.