Author Julie Gilbert Discusses the Writing of Her New Book ‘Giant Love’
Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
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A new middle-grade novel by award-winning Pete Hautman, two mysteries and a horror anthology. Who could ask for anything more on an autumn Sunday? (Courtesy of Candlewick Press) “Answers to Dog”: by Pete Hautman (Candlewick Press, $18.99) The summer before Pete Hautman started fourth grade, everything he read was about dogs and boys. Now a National Book Award-winning writer, Hautman passes his love of dogs to middle-grade readers in his new novel “Answers to Dog,” a tender story featuring Evan, a mildly depressed eighth-grader, and the escaped border collie humans named Sam but answers to Dog. “I wanted to write a book for 9-year-old Pete Hautman,” the author said during a phone conversation from the Golden Valley home he shares with poet/mystery writer Mary Logue, who was at their other house in Stockholm, Wis. The inspiration for “Answers to Dog” goes back to Hautman’s childhood in St. Louis Park and Jim Kjelgaard, who wrote more than 40 novels. One of his most popular, “Big Red,” is about an expensive Irish setter that bonds with an orphan boy. Published in 1945, the book was made into a 1962 Walt Disney film. “A few years ago an editor asked me to write the introduction to the 75th anniversary edition of ‘Big Red.’ This was huge for me. It was the first chapter book I ever read,” Hautman said. “Then I looked up various dog books. There are thousands, some good, some not so good. It’s like a genre within a genre. The ones I was most interested in had a substantial animal point of view.” That’s the kind of book Hautman wanted to write but without anthropomorphizing the dog too much. After researching border collies, an intelligent breed that needs lots of exercise, Hautman imagined the dog coming out of nowhere to run beside Evan. They bond but become separated, and Hautman puts readers into Sam’s head as the dog journeys to find the human he thinks of as the Boy: Pete Hautman (Courtesy of the author) “He did not think he was lost. The dog did not think in those […]
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Julie Gilbert Today, we delve into the enduring relevance of the themes explored by Pulitzer Prize -winning author Edna Ferber
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