When becoming a mermaid, frog or a cowgirl didn’t work out, Bobbie Pyron decided writing was the thing to do.
“Once I became a passionate reader (at about age 9), I couldn’t imagine anything more wonderful than creating a whole world on paper and then share it with others,” Bobbie told Cracking the Cover. “I had no desire to see myself on stage or screen — I wanted to see my book and my name on a library shelf.”
The author now has a bunch of books on library shelves everywhere. She is the author of “The Ring” and “A Dog’s Way Home.” Her latest book, “The Dogs of Winter,” hit bookstores Oct. 1.
“The Dogs of Winter” is based on the true story of a homeless child in Moscow who is befriended by a pack of dogs. Bobbie learned about Ivan Mishukov in 2005. She was reading an article on feral children — children raised by animals — and it opened with his story.
“Ivan was just one of tens of thousands of homeless children trying to survive on the streets of Moscow after the fall of the Soviet Union in the mid 1990s,” Bobbie explained. “Ivan was 4 when he ended up on the streets, which was not all that unusual. What was unusual was that Ivan survived the devastating cold, hunger, drugs and violence of the streets by living with a pack of feral street dogs. They not only helped each other find food and keep warm and safe, they became a real family. Ivan lived with the dogs for two years before he was finally captured and taken to an orphanage. I knew I had to write his story.”
Bobbie does tell Ivan’s story in “The Dogs of Winter,” but it’s a fictionalized version. At first she was nervous writing about a place she’d never been. “Then I realized that a small child narrating the story would not be like a tour guide,” she said. “A child will only describe the things that would matter to a child. Of course, I did a ton of research before I wrote a single word. But I tried not to obsess over things like street names and maps of the city.”
“The Dogs of Winter” explores a few questions, Bobbie says. What makes us human? And how do you define “family?” It goes beyond Ivan’s particular relationship with these dogs.
There is something quite magical and powerful about the relationship between children and dogs, Bobbie says. “I think in many ways children feel fairly powerless and small, and like no one really listens to them or respects them because they’re ‘just a kid.’ Dogs love you and want to be with you more than anything in the world. Dogs are great listeners, so very sympathetic. Yet, they’re up for any adventure you can think of! In many ways, dogs are the perfect sidekick to most any child, boy or girl.”
Bobbie says she’s much more interested in exploring what kids and teens are dealing with through writing than she is with adults. “Kids and teens are dealing with questions of identity — who am I separate from my family, from my friends? Kids and teens are trying to discover who they are and what their place is in the world. They are honest with their passions, their fears, their dreams. I want the freedom to write with that kind of honesty.”
That honesty and a high level of respect for her audience is what Bobbie hopes appeals to her readers. “Sometimes adults who don’t know better will say to me, ‘Why do you do so much research for a fiction book for kids? They’re just kids!’ But I feel a real obligation to tell the truth to my readers, even though it is fiction. At the end of the day, I want to write books that readers will hug to their hearts when they’ve finished the last page and say, ‘Oh, I loved that book. …”
And as a librarian, Bobbie has some other books she lovingly recommends, books that she held to her heard after finishing the last page and said, “I loved that story.” Bobbie shared a small number of those books with Cracking the Cover — “Because Of Winn-Dixie,” by Kate DiCamillo, “Missing May,” by Cynthia Rylant, “Ruby Holler,” by Sharon Creech, “Wonder,” by R.J. Palacio, and “Glory Be,” by Augusta Scattergood.
*Bobbie will be at The King’s English, 1511 S. 1500 East, in Salt Lake City, Saturday Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. She will read and sign from “The Dogs of Winter.”
*Read a complete transcript of Bobbie’s interview with Cracking the Cover.
