A novel for kids tells the true story of a newspaper for dogs
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When Lobestine decided to write a children's novel about their adventures, the real Sophie, now a student at Emerson, jumped right in. 'She's so creative,' says Lobestine. 'I talked to her a little bit about it, and then we decided to do an artist retreat — some friends of ours own a farm in Vermont and they invited us to come. I was working on the book and she was really into being a filmmaker in high school so she made these two short documentaries. She continues to be this amazingly creative person and I've seen her really come into her own.'
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'The Barking Puppy' is meant to entertain and delight, like any other middle-grade novel — Lobestine says she was 'just smitten with how fun the story could be' — but the author also hopes it inspires its readers, if not to start their own newspapers, to at least 'lean into their passions.'
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'I wanted the book to model a lot of different ways to be yourself,' she adds, 'and to show how a community can be a place where we have room for each other, where we hold each other up.'
Lobi Lobestine will read at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 24, at the
And now for some recommendations….
Lydia Millet is one of our finest fiction writers, a cool chronicler of an overheating planet and a master at melding history in humor in novels like 'Oh Pure and Radiant Heart' and 'A Children's Bible.' '
Tech-driven visions of the future have always had a high error rate (I am still looking around for the robot housemaid promised to me by the Jetsons). But as Silicon Valley grows in political influence, the fantastic plans promulgated by industry leaders have begun to influence policy and government budgets. This isn't great, as science journalist Adam Becker points out in '
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Kate Tuttle edits the Globe's Books section.
Kate Tuttle, a freelance writer and critic, can be reached at
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