Wild Thing and The Bagel shares your family’s story about adopting two dogs and the challenges that people may face when rescuing an animal. What inspired you to share your story? 

Wild Thing was 13 when I started the book a couple of years ago.  His favorite human has always been Brady.  When Brady went off to college, Wild Thing went through a horrible depression, missing his best friend so much.  We had talked about getting another canine companion, but always wondered how Wild Thing would handle sharing his humans.  We made the leap that first summer of Covid, when everything was just re-opening.  The Bagel immediately made her way into our hearts and became friends immediately with Wild Thing.  Wild Thing had always provided us with entertainment and tales to tell ever since the day we brought him home 14 years ago.  When The Bagel joined the family, the stories more than doubled.  I knew then I needed to put their stories in writing—and every single story in the book has happened.  As Wild Thing is getting older, I knew putting this book together would be my little ‘love note’ to him.  

One thing I loved about this children’s book is that it is told from the perspective of Wild Thing. Why did you choose to tell the story from his perspective rather than your own voice?

These are Wild Thing’s tales to tell…and for anyone who has had pets, you know you can just tell when they are ’telling’ you about their day or about the other family pets’ antics.  Getting these stories out to everyone needed to be told from Wild Thing’s point of view to give it authenticity.  

What were some educational aspects that were important for you to include in this children’s book?

I hope children, and adults, see the love and bond between humans and pets, and that rescue pets are simply awesome.  And, who knows, it might give someone the little push they need to make that leap to rescue a pet.  My purpose was to write the book so that kids of all ages could enjoy the stories.  

Are you working on more stories about Wild Thing and The Bagel?

Wild Thing and The Bagel give me new stories everyday—so, there is plenty of material.  My hope is to be able to put some of them into another book…or to possibly do a theme book (such as a holiday book or a book about different adventures).

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Original source: https://literarytitan.com/2023/05/17/these-are-wild-things-tales-to-tell/