As humans, we do tend to think it’s all about us, and I wanted to caution the reader against that. They don’t symbolize anything else to me. And the bison who are kept there-I never took those bison as anyone but unfortunate creatures stuck in the pen in the park. The park in the book is not Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, but I was inspired by it. I wanted to free the reader from misinterpretation and to help them be able to take the story at face value. Why was that important to you to emphasize? T he author’s note in the beginning of the book cautions readers against anthropomorphizing the animals. And yet, there are probably some adults who say, “Oh, those types of books aren’t for me,” even though they would benefit greatly from the pure reading pleasure of those books. I thought, these are classics, and the writing is so pure and perfect. There are so many authors, whether it’s Jason Reynolds or Katherine Applegate, or Kate DiCamillo, who I got to read with my kids, and enjoyed just as much as they did.Įspecially when I discovered Kate DiCamillo’s books when my kids were little. All of these designations hamper what should be the pleasure of just picking up any book that looks intriguing to you.Īre there any particular writers who are categorized as “children’s book authors” who you particularly enjoy? I’m hoping that anybody would feel welcome to this book. I really resist critical designations of this or that literary movement.

I tend to resist genre and age group designations. I just personally love the all-ages designation. And I totally understand those kinds of designations from a publisher’s perspective and a librarian’s perspective. I know that for the Knopf Books for Young Readers version, it’s children’s middle grade. But you know, Johannes is a young dog and there are certain things that come through his perspective that resonate with a younger reader.įor the McSweeney’s edition, we’re sending the message that the book is for all ages. I guess the freedom expressed in the book, or that Johannes feels, is very much the freedom I was feeling as a writer. As I was writing, I thought, “I’m just going to write this exactly as I think it should be written, and not really worry about the audience.” I was so ready to write freely, without having to check facts, or write about technology-just writing from a much more untethered place. I actually didn’t approach this project any differently than writing for adults.

How did you approach writing this book differently than you might a book for adults?

The circle by dave eggers