Triple Header Week!

Posted by: Allison Helps Cats on: October 12, 2011

• In: Adventure | Current (After 1999) | Grades 3-5 | Grades 6-8 | Nature | Realistic | Teasers
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Daily Teaser Archives

Welcome to triple-header week!

Ever wondered if the literary world needs another dog story? Check out my review of A Dog’s Way Home by Bobbie Pyron to find out the answer. Want a different opinion? Virtual Author Book Tours has arranged for twelve bloggers including myself to serve as hosts for Bobbie Pyron’s online tour. You can find a list of blogger hosts on the right hand side of Allison’s Book Bag, along with descriptions of what each will offer.

I’ll also be featuring an interview with Bobbie Pyron and a giveaway of A Dog’s Way Home. To receive your own copy, comment on either my review or interview.

Thanks to the graciousness of Bobbie Pyron in offering a copy of her first novel to tour hosts, I’ll post my thoughts of her book The Ring to wrap up the week. I had intended to keep that review to less than 500 words, I ended up with too much to say. 

Librarian: What’s your favorite place in the whole world? For Bobbie Pyron and for me, the library would be among our top choices. When she was a child, her family moved around a lot. As Bobbie Pyron did not make friends easily, books became her friend. As soon as they family moved into a new town, unpacked their car and their few belongings, she headed to the public library. Books became even more important to her when she lost her dad suddenly before the age of seven. On her blog, she shares: “There I knew just how the books would be arranged on the shelves and how the place would smell, no matter if we were in Destin, Florida or Dawson, Georgia. When I walked through that front door of whatever library it was and smelled that musty, sweet bookish smell, I knew I was home. As a child, libraries–both public and school–provided a secure place for me, no matter where I was. And books helped me make sense of the world and not feel so alone.”  Today Bobbie Pyron is a librarian, a career she has held for over twenty-five years.

Author: By the time Bobbie Pyron was nine, she knew she wanted to be an author when she grew up. She tried writing a book about a brother and sister who run away from home to live with wild ponies. By page thirty-two, she gave up because her hand hurt from writing. That’s when she discovered writing is hard! What do you think about writing?

Before Bobbie Pyron realized her childhood dream of age to become an author, her career life took many twists and turns. First, she went to college and obtained degrees in psychology and anthropology. For a time, she was even a singer in a rock and roll band. Then, she went back to college and got a degree to work as a librarian. What twists and turns have you taken to find your dream job?

As a cute side note, Bobbie Pyron’s mom loved the ocean more than anything. When she was pregnant with Bobbie Pyron, she would walk down to the beach every day to swim in the ocean, look for seashells, and lie in the sun. As her belly grew bigger and bigger, Bobbie Pyron’s father dug a deeper and deeper hole so that she could lie on her stomach. When she went into labor with Bobbie Pyron, she was swimming in the ocean. Bobbie Pyron thinks this is why she has always wanted to be a mermaid–or a frog. For a short time in second grade, Bobbie Pyron even thought being a frog would be a wonderful thing to be when she grew up.

Reader: What do you like to read about more than anything in the whole world? If you ask Bobbie Pyron, she would probably tell you animals. Growing up, everyone in her family loved them. Her family always had a dog. They also made frequent trips to the zoo, where her favorite animal were the giraffes. As for animal books, the first book she read on her own was Casey, the Utterly Impossible Horse by Anita Feagles. She still has a copy of that book! In fourth grade, she even read A Season of Ponies so many times, the school librarian had to start a brand new check out card just for her. Although she once wanted to be a cowgirl when she grew, today Bobbie Pyron is a librarian and author.

Animal Lover: On her blog, you’ll find that Bobbie Pyron maintains her interest in animals. She owns three dogs and two cats. Her posts also emphasize dog stories. Her editor for A Dog’s Way Home wanted her to blog after the release of the book, but Bobbie Pyron didn’t find blogging comfortable. While brainstorming for ideas on how to focus the blog, they came up with the idea of interviewing other authors about their dogs. Her blog has featured prominent authors Gary Schmidt, Patricia MacLachlan, Barbara O’Connor, and Anita Silvey. Bobbie Pyron has also posted her own Fido and Five about her sheltie that inspired A Dog’s Way Home.

After losing her Sheltie of seventeen-years, Bobbie Pyron contacted a friend at a no-kill animal rescue and told her she was looking for another sheltie. When her friend emailed her, she said they’d just pulled a sheltie mix from a “kill shelter.” When Bobbie Pyron saw the photo, she laughed: The dog looked more like a fox with a blue merle coat. When the Pyrons visited the sheltie, the dog threw itself into Mr. Pyron’s lap, belly up, and gazed into his eyes with pure adoration. Since they were adopting her just days before Halloween, he named her Boo.

When Bobbie Pyron ’s vet first saw their new dog, he asked, “Where’d you get that coy-dog?” Boo was part coyote! Of the Pryon’s three dogs, Boo is the most sensitive to pack dynamics. She loves her family including the Pyron cats and is unhappy when they are apart. Boo is also terrified of fireworks but will charge a bull moose. She loves her toys with abandon, along with certain people. Boo was the model for Tam’s coyote friend in A Dog’s Way Home. You can read more about the Boo at this post: Celebrating National Dog Week with Boo.

Related Posts

• Review of A Dog’s Way Home
• Interview with Bobbie Pyron
• Review of The Ring

Related Articles

• Blog Tours for Books Gaining in Popularity (prweb.com)
• Blog Tour! (lisarivero.com)

Tags: A Dog's Way Home, Allison's Book Bag, Bobbie Pyron, book reviews, Fido and Five, lost dog stories, mini-reviews, postaday2011, reviews of books for young people, The Ring, virtual author book tours