Letter to Author

I think it is so cute that Tatiana wants to name our next dog after the dog in the book we are listening to now.  So I sent this to the author,

"Most important, our 8-year-old daughter has declared that her first puppy will be named "Bowser". 

I normally don't like Mysteries.  I'll read them anyway because I read a lot of books and sometimes they are at-hand.  My daughter seems to like mysteries.  I'd desperately wanted her to like audiobooks, and the first one I tried out on her was the first Boxcar book.   She loved it.  So, we kept listening to them.  There are way too many of them and after about 50 I had to insist that we move onto something else.  We've done many books since then including the Wizard of OZ, Narnia and Harry Potter series.  When 'Sara, Plain and Tall' was a flop, I needed another audiobook quickly and I noticed Woof was a kid's mystery, I snagged it. 

At first I inwardly rolled my eyes at the dog perspective.  I quickly realized it was an excellent device for a mystery book.   You, the author, don't have to assume the reader knows something that the main people in the book don't know, and you don't have to be cutesie hiding facts in the book used at the end.  Instead the dog sees, hears and smells things that Birdie doesn't.  Brilliant!  Since the facts are out there for the child-reader, the child can enjoy the mystery."

He responded by email with this,
"Many thanks! I'm sure your Bowser will be a lucky puppy.
Peter (spence)"

The reason for the two names is that these books are written under the Spencer Quinn name. 

When I told Scotland she wants to name a puppy Bowser, his response was "She hasn't even read Battlestar Galatica yet".   He doesn't listen to the bedtime audiobooks with us.