Animal Tales
There's trouble at Gray House, the girlhood home that Poppy left long ago. Poppy's family has called her back to save them all—mother, father, sisters and brothers, and dozens and dozens of deer mouse cousins. Poppy invites her rebellious son, Junior, to join her on the long trip across Dimwood Forest, hoping the journey will bring them closer together.
Ragweed is so central a character in POPPY as well as in POPPY AND RYE, I needed to write a book about him so as to learn: how did he come to be the way he is? Where did he get that ring in his ear?
These stories were not written as a group, but rather at different times over the years. One of stories was written years ago when I was reading fairy tales to my own boys.
My stories always have different beginnings. POPPY is no exception. I was browsing in a book store among sale books, when I came upon a book that caught my fancy. It was the story of a great horned owl who had been found in a forest when just a fledgling by a naturalist. Presumably the owl had fallen out of his nest. The man raised the owl up, then taught it to be free in the wilderness.
The very last chapter of Poppy, begins with this line:
Almost thirteen full moons to the night since Mr. Ocax killed Ragweed, Poppy and her husband, Rye (how they met and married is another story) stood on Bannock Hill with their litter of eleven young mice.
McKinley, an Alaskan malamute, who lives with Jack, is also the leader of the dogs in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. His leadership is challenged not just by another dog, but also by a wolf that comes to town to recruit dogs for her pack.
Having finished the first three books in the series, it was perfectly clear I need to write one book about the favorite character, Ereth the Porcupine. It was a great deal of fun to write, because Ereth himself is so much fun. And yet, the story shows a whole new side of the grumpy fellow, and in so doing, rounds out the series in a very exciting way.
When I was a boy--growing up in the forties--I read serialized stories for kids in the local newspaper. I really loved them. I loved them so much that for many years I had wanted to write a serialized story. Shortly after I moved to Boulder, Colorado, my house was invaded by some raccoons. It gave me the idea for a story--and a serialized story at that.
