Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko Talk About Dogtown

A podcast interview with Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko on The Growing Readers Podcast, a production of The Children’s Book Review.

Award-winning authors Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko’s co-authored book Dogtown showcases how fiction can help instill empathy and compassion, especially in fun stories that involve animals.

The power of literature is immeasurable and inspiring, and their work is a testament to the fact that stories can have a meaningful impact on the human experience. Dogtown reinforces the idea that literature is not just a pastime but a critical tool in shaping our emotional understanding and sense of compassion.

Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko talk about:

• Their love of dogs, writing, and, of course, Dogtown
• How they connected over their love for middle grade readers and collaborated on writing Dogtown.
• Research for Dogtown, including volunteering at a pet shelter and training dogs for therapy work.
• How the idea of robot dogs versus real dogs came about for the story.
• The main characters, Metal Head and Chance, and what they represent.
• Wallace West’s illustrations in the book and how he brought it to life with his quirky and original style.
• The importance of fiction in developing empathy and compassion, and how stories about animals (like Dogtown) can inspire kids to cherish and appreciate their furry companions.

Listen to this episode of The Growing Readers Podcast and be encouraged to take the time to stop and consider the world around us and to become more aware and empathetic members of our community.

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Bianca Schulze

Hi, Katherine. Welcome back to the Growing Readers podcast.

Katherine Applegate

Oh, I’m so thrilled to be here again.

Bianca Schulze

And hello, Gennifer. Welcome for the first time.

Gennifer Choldenko

Yeah, I can’t wait.

Bianca Schulze

I am thrilled to have you both on the show to talk about your new book, Dogtown. It’s funny, heartfelt, and very entertaining. And, of course, it’s about dogs and the importance of taking care of our pets. But first things first, let’s start with what will likely be the most random question of the day. And Katherine, I’m going to start with you. If I were to ask you to taste test a new flavored snack today to fuel you while you’re working, what would you hope that snack would be?

Katherine Applegate

Does it have to be brand new? Can it be an old standby?

Bianca Schulze

You know what? I’m okay with an old standby because.

Katherine Applegate

My go-to is always and forever buttered popcorn with a fair amount of salt. In the end of the day, it’s got to have salt. I’m not a sugar person.

Bianca Schulze

There you go. I do love some popcorn, too. How about you, Gennifer? What flavored snack would you want me to serve you to get you through your writing day?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, first, I just want to add that I have butter with a little popcorn, but I love caramel apples. And now they’ve been making caramel apples with all kinds of chocolate and nuts, and the more garbage on it, the better.

Bianca Schulze

Yes, I love that. I think I relate to the more butter than popcorn, too. Well, I would love it if you would both share something about yourselves that might surprise or inspire listeners. And Gennifer, if you’re okay, I would love to start with you.

Gennifer Choldenko

Okay, well, one of the things that works for me as a writer is because I guess I have a lot of energy is that I bookend my day with some kind of exercise. Like I play tennis at seven, or I do yoga, and then I can sit and really concentrate because there’s something about exercise that, first of all, gets my brain going, but it also calms me down. And that’s a really important thing when you’re writing to be calmed down so that you can really focus. Because I think focus is what it’s all about.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, definitely. Now, when you say you like to do yoga, do you like to do like a specific kind of yoga? Do you like hot yoga?

Gennifer Choldenko

I like hot yoga. And actually, Katherine is the one who said you should try hot yoga. And I never thought I would like it. But I go to a studio, and it’s like 85, and I just drip sweat, and I’m not really all that good at it. So, I stand by the wall so I don’t tip over. And the teacher comes by, and he’s worried because, you know, maybe as young as some of the other people. So, he’s always fanning me because he’s afraid that I’m going to fall down in the middle of— it’s not pretty, but I love it.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, that’s awesome. Well, Katherine, how about you? What’s something that might surprise or inspire?

Katherine Applegate

Now, I should add that the very idea that I suggested hot yoga to Gennifer because I have never been in a hot yoga studio. I just thought it sounded like something she would like. I am kind of the opposite. I’m just a couch potato. But I’m really working on it, and I think this might be reassuring since we’re talking about writing behaviors. I have been writing for decades, and I still have a hard time sitting down and looking at the blank page. And for me, the Pomodoro method, which a lot of folks with Add are familiar with, has really helped me. And basically, you set a timer for the minimal amount you can stand to do something. In this case, I’m talking about a first draft, and you set it, it goes off, say, 20 minutes later, and then you take maybe a ten-minute break and go back to it. Now, if I’m really in the moment, that isn’t necessary, and those lovely moments do occasionally happen, but for me, it’s a grind. It’s always hard. I’m one of those people who loves having written, as the old saying goes.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah. As a mom of three kids of really varying ages, when I get my work time, I feel like this is the time that I have to get everything done. And I’ve actually had to train myself to know that, at some point, it’s just not productive. Just because you have the time, it doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right time, especially if you’re working on something creative. So, to know when to step away and take that break is just as crucial as knowing when to sit down and do the work.

Katherine Applegate

Oh, absolutely.

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, that’s a good point.

Bianca Schulze

Oh, I’m glad you agree. Gennifer. Well, let’s go with a dog-lover question now. So, Gennifer, what is it about dogs that you love so much, and why do you think they make great pets?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, I don’t know if I would even use the term pet. I think it’s more like a partner. I don’t know if I would get any kind of a prescription for an emotional support animal, but I use my dog that way. I think she understands me and picks up cues about me better than some of the humans in my life. And so, she is right there calming me down if I’m upset. And there’s something about the bond that is really indescribable. It goes so deep because there’s something primal about it; all humans have all these layers, and there are different kinds of bonds, and it’s very complex. But a really deep bond with an animal is, in some ways, very simple and very strong.

Katherine Applegate

I think everybody in the world should have a dog, and the world Would be a much better place. I think for me, I’m sort of a terminal pessimist. And for me, the delight about dogs is that they are eternal optimists. And every day is new, and every moment, there might be a snack around the corner or maybe even a walk, and there’s just this energy that I find so lovely to be around. So, I think that’s a lot of it. And the other part is exactly the bond Gennifer was talking about, that feeling that you are understood and you’re connected. I am absolutely fascinated by that chasm between humans and other species, that inability to connect linguistically. And I think the closest you get to overcoming that is with a dog. So yeah, they’re perfect.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, well, I’m a dog owner, too, so I agree. Well, since we did a dog lover question, we have to do a Book Lover and a writing question. So, when it comes to writing books for kids, Gennifer, what drives you and guides you?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, when I was a kid, I got so much from books, and as an adult, they’re one of the biggest joys of my life. But it’s different when you’re a kid. There’s something that draws you to books and makes you feel like when you read a book that you connect with, it’s written for you. You really believe that, at least, I totally did. So, the idea that I could be writing a book that some kid could feel about the way I felt about So many of the books that I loved: Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Charlotte’s Web, Across Five Aprils—it’s just to me it is so exciting to be able to do that. And I think I’m able to do it because I am basically eleven inside. And I mean, I can really stretch and try and be 13, but it doesn’t really work very well because I’m imagining being 13, whereas when I’m ten or eleven or twelve, I am ten or eleven or twelve. I don’t have to imagine it. I don’t know why. And my husband is always saying, this is not something you should be proud of, that you’re eleven. But there you have it.

Bianca Schulze

Love it. Well, I have an eleven-year-old at home. My middle child is eleven, and she would probably love to have a conversation with you over me right now. Well, let’s see. Well, here’s a question again for you, Gennifer. Let’s stay with you. Have you ever considered writing for adults?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, when I first finally decided, I used to write advertising for a living, and I finally decided that I couldn’t do that anymore and I was going to be the writer that I really knew I was. And so, I started trying to write for adults, and it was a really terrible time in my life because I just didn’t like it. I actually got bored writing, and I thought, well, maybe I’m not a writer. This is something that I had believed all my life. It turns out I really wasn’t. And then one day, somehow, it connected that maybe if I could write as an eleven-year-old, things might be different because everything I had written had actually been from the point of view of a kid or a teenager previous to that time. So, I thought, okay, let’s give that a try. And as soon as I did, everything came alive. I mean, it was like everything was dark, and all the lights came on, and all the buzzers and it was just so cool. And I’ve never been bored writing as an eleven-year-old.

Bianca Schulze

Well, Katherine, the question I just asked Gennifer on what guides her and drives her, I actually asked you when you were on the show to talk about Odder last year. So, I hope listeners will go back and check out that episode to hear your response on how children’s books can lead to a path of hope because your response was beautiful. So, I’m going to ask you this question today. Both you and Gennifer are clearly dog lovers but in terms of what guides you and drives you, what other connection points, or what else was it that brought you both together to collaborate on this book?

Katherine Applegate

It’s funny. I do think our inner eleven-year-old sort of connected as soon as we met. Gennifer just makes me laugh, which is the best kind of human being to be around. And we were neighbors, essentially. We didn’t really realize we were neighbors until a mutual friend brought us together. But Gennifer used to walk her dog pretty much right past my backyard. And when we finally started talking about writing, we had so much in common. Both, most especially, I think, our love for middle grade. I absolutely believe there is no other group of young readers to write for. I love picture books. I love YA. But there is something remarkably special about middle grade readers. They’re imaginative, open-minded, and honest in a way that is sometimes difficult but always helpful. And so, I think we both realized how much we loved writing books that were both poignant and funny and directed toward that particular group of humans.

To this day, we’re still arguing about whose idea it was to write the book together. I think it was Gennifer. Gennifer thinks it was me. And I’m just really glad we came to an agreement because I think Dogtown is just a really special book.

Bianca Schulze

Well, then, what did the process look like in writing this book? And who wrote what? And how did you get the story so seamless between the both of you? Because there’s no telling for a reader that two authors wrote this story. It feels like one author wrote it. So, what was the process? And Gennifer, why don’t you start us there?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, I just wanted to add one thing to the previous question, which is how did this happen? Sometimes things are just kind of meant to be, and it’s like falling out of bed, and everything just kind of falls into place, and that’s what happened with this idea and the idea of working together on Dogtown. Not that we didn’t have to go down a lot of rabbit holes in the wrong direction before this came into being, but it really had a sense of inevitability. And as far as how we did it, the interesting thing to me is I have been writing by myself my whole life, and everything is about me and my decision, this and that and this and that, and so it was really refreshing to actually have someone else on board during the process. I did not think I would necessarily be a good candidate for writing with someone else, but it turned out to be kind of just what I needed in terms of a shot in the arm for my creativity because I would send something to her—we email all the time. I mean, we email sometimes five times a day. It’s just kind of crazy. I send something to Katherine, and Katherine would send it back. I would have trouble with something, I’d say, here, you do it, and then she would fix it and send it back to me. So, I don’t know exactly. I mean, I can’t give you a granular structure for how it all worked, but it was kind of like all in some kind of chaos that turned into an order.

Bianca Schulze

I love it. Katherine, do you want to add anything there?

Katherine Applegate

Yeah, the only other person with whom I’ve collaborated is my husband. We did a series many years ago called Animorphs. And even then, as many of those books in a row as there were, and there were a lot, we could never really describe the process. And people are fascinated by it because I think they assume, oh, you switch voices, or you switch chapters, or someone takes description and dialogue, and someone else does the heavy-duty action. But we did all those things. And I think the same thing is true with Gennifer. It’s a sad little joke, but I always say it’s like sausage and legislation. You don’t want to see how it’s done, but when you’re done, you’ve got something, and you’re just throwing a whole bunch of stuff into a blender and seeing what comes out at the other end. And luckily, I think it helps so much that we have similar interests. And we had written, I would say, the same kind of books in many ways, books about that had hope and humor in them, but also had some real substance, and so it just magically happens.

Bianca Schulze

Gennifer, you mentioned, and you were kind of laughing when you said it, that you went down some rabbit holes. And then Katherine laughed immediately, and so then I was left feeling curious. What’s the worst idea that you feel like the two of you came up with that you had to just leave behind?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, I remember I’m not going to tell you exactly what it was because it’s sort of embarrassing, but I remember at one point Katherine going, well, I suppose we could do that.

Katherine Applegate

I was just dredging through my memory. Don’t want to do no, no.

Bianca Schulze

All right, well, we’ll move along, even though I’m still very curious. So, Katherine, I know that you love research. So, what kind of research did you both do for Dogtown and did you visit a pet shelter?

Katherine Applegate

Oh, well, I’ll let Gennifer speak to that more. But my experience, we went into it knowing, I think both of us, a lot about dogs, which was great. It made it a little bit easier. I didn’t know as much about, say, otters, but I had a dog a while back named Goofy, who was this delightful, enormous yellow lab that I had trained. They called it CGC training. I’m not sure I even remember what that stands for, but it’s a dog that is certified to go into things like hospitals and schools and that kind of thing.

And Gennifer can tell you a little bit more about her work with the Humane Society.

Gennifer Choldenko

Yeah. So, I volunteer at Marin Humane. I have been a dog feeder, the afternoon dog feeder, and now I’m a dog training assistant. And that turned out to be extremely helpful in getting some of the details around a shelter, first off, because I think it’s good to ground stuff. No matter how fantastical the world that you’re creating is, if you ground it, in reality, there’s something solid about it that just wouldn’t happen if you just lived totally in your head. Also, it really brought home some of the issues. It turns out that big dogs don’t get adopted very often, for example, and every time before I go to volunteer, my husband always says, one husband, one dog.

Bianca Schulze

He might be quite a genius.

Gennifer Choldenko

But I have to tell you, that was hard. There were these two-part wolves that really stayed for such a long time, and I was so worried about Caldra; that’s one of them. I just was a little beside myself. It was hard.

Bianca Schulze

Well, then, here’s a question specifically relating to the dogs in Dogtown. I know that you said you don’t quite remember who had the idea for this story first, but to the best of your knowledge, I want to hear about how the idea of robot dogs versus real dogs came about. Katherine, do you want to start on that?

Katherine Applegate

Well, when we were throwing ideas around, the idea of robot anything had crossed our minds repeatedly. And I think it was Gennifer who combined robot and dog, and it was just so much fun to think about what that would mean because we think of dogs as flesh and blood dogs as nothing but heart and soul and love. And what does it mean when you are programmed for all that? So, it led instantly to all kinds of potential plots, and I think that’s kind of where it started.

Bianca Schulze

So, you know, obviously, a thing that we all bond over with dogs is their heart and their soul. So, Gennifer, will you touch on the beautiful concept from the story that your heart is a muscle; it gets stronger the more you use it?

Gennifer Choldenko

Yeah, that’s just sort of evolved as the story evolved. And it’s something that I’ve noticed in life that when you kind of put yourself out there and try to be the person that you want to be, it’s easier to keep doing that. So, that was something that really resonated with me. But just in terms of how the idea came about, I mean, one thing we were looking at is we wanted an idea that wasn’t like every other idea out there. There are a billion dog books, and there are some really wonderful ones, but we wanted to have an idea that wasn’t just another dog book. So, I think that’s where our feelers were kind of looking at, well, what can we do that was different?

Bianca Schulze

Yeah. So, when you have Metal Head, who is the robot dog, and we have Chance, who is the real dog. At the beginning of the story, Chance has a big heart, and a lot of the dogs that are real have a lot of judgment on the robot dogs because they don’t have hearts. So, if we take Metal Head as the robot dog and then we have Chance as the real dog, what do you want listeners to know that maybe haven’t read the book yet about those two characters? Without giving away any spoilers, Katherine, why don’t you take us there?

Katherine Applegate

Well, the phrase that instantly comes to mind is an unlikely friendship. And I think a lot of what this book is about is overcoming those differences we have. Not to get too global about it, but community matters, and we are in a place right now as a country where differences are all we talk about. And here we have in this microcosm, this little shelter, these very different dogs, and watching them connect, I think, is really healing. At least it was for me.

Bianca Schulze

Gennifer, anything to add.

Gennifer Choldenko

You know, I always loved to write, but I really liked being in this book while it was evolving. And I think what Katherine says is really true, that there’s so much divisiveness out there right now that to be in this place where that divisiveness gets healed just felt really good.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, I loved that too. So, we definitely cannot pass up on talking about the really fun illustrations. So, Gennifer, why don’t you talk to us about the.

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, when Wallace West agreed to illustrate this book, we won the lottery big time. We suspected, because we saw his dogs, that he would be good at it. But we did not realize just how deeply he got the book and how much he would add by the illustrations, bringing the book to life and shaping the book, because illustrations really do that. They give a form to a book that it does not have without it. And he just has such a quirky, funny sense of humor. And he’s so original. His illustrations do not look like anybody else’s. So, I wasn’t quite sure about him at first. And then we asked for some sketches of robot Docs, and it was like, oh, my God, he totally got it. That was one of the high points of my career. When we got this in the email, these different robot dogs he’d come up with, it was like, oh, wow, this guy, he got it.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah. When I was sitting next to my son, we were reading side by side. He had his book, which was another highly illustrated book, and I was reading this, and I kept laughing, so he had to put his book down to come and see what I was laughing about. And the one that I remember the most that he thought was really funny, and I know now that I’m done reading it, he’s going to have to read it right now. But it was the illustration of Metal Head that’s all labeled. Like his anatomy is all labeled, and the farting bottom. And my son thought that the fact that this robot dog farts was just hilarious.

Bianca Schulze

So, what are some of your favorite illustrations from the book, Katherine?

Bianca Schulze

What about you, Gennifer? Any favorite?

Gennifer Choldenko

I love the combination of real dogs and metal dogs, and I love somehow when Chance and Metal Head interact in kind of something like a prison setting. I don’t know why, but I mean, it is a little like a prison that kennel, I got to tell you. It is. But I don’t know, that just cracks me up. And I also like what he did with Mouse. He made Mouse come to life in a way that I hadn’t imagined. So that added a lot also.

Bianca Schulze

Katherine, I would love to know what your favorite thing is that Gennifer brought to this.

Katherine Applegate

Oh, where to even start?

It’s so broad, but the heart and the humor. I knew working with her that the book would be funny and that, as I said, that’s the thing that drew me to her both as a person and to her books. I also knew that she would be so good at plotting and generating ideas. Plotting is really difficult for me. So, you know, when there was a moment of, oh, I don’t know where this should go. Gennifer always knows a thousand ideas, and they were all—

I’m working on a book solo now, and it’s really kind of a bummer because I don’t have that wonderful support network anymore. So, I may just have to send everything to her to have it vetted now.

Bianca Schulze

Gennifer, what about you? What’s your favorite thing that Katherine brought to this book?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, I remember at the very beginning of this process that we agreed, and this is going to sound maybe weird to you, but that our friendship would come first, and we’ve really kept that, that the friendship comes first, and the book comes second. And I know you’re supposed to put the book first, but it turns out that when you’re collaborating with someone, having the friendship come first is really important. So that’s one thing. But what I’ve learned from watching Katherine make decisions and interact is that she’s a lot more astute professionally than I am, so she is. So that’s been a learning experience. But the most fun thing is when we could make each other laugh, she would send something, and I would crack up, and I would send something, and she would crack up. And somehow, that life really, I think, infused into the book.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, I feel like that came across, too, for sure. Like I said upfront, when I read the story, had I not known it was co-authored, it felt so seamless. And just the two of you, definitely my kids think it’s funny when I use this word, but you vibed like, you vibed together, and it feels like one person wrote it, so it’s beautiful.

Okay, Gennifer, what are your hopes for this book when it’s out in the world? What do you hope readers will take away?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, our first number one goal was that we write an entertaining book, especially, as we said, it’s hard out there right now. We, as a country, have been through an awful lot with the pandemic, et cetera, and we wanted to entertain. We wanted to have an entertaining book, but we also wanted to have something that once you’re done, it’s not like eating something. There’s still something there. So, we wanted an entertaining book that also had some gravitas.

Bianca Schulze

Katherine, what are your hopes when it’s out in the world?

Katherine Applegate

Gennifer’s so right. At the end of the day, I think the most important thing is that you write a book that, even if it’s just one child, they hug it to their chest and love it. It’s so important to be entertaining. And I was a very reluctant reader. It took me a long time. Charlotte’s Web was my gateway drug, but it took a long time for me to really understand how wonderful reading can be. And so, if one kid picks this up and loves it and laughs and maybe thinks a little bit more about friendship and kindness, I think we’ve done our job.

Bianca Schulze

We can’t have The Growing Readers Podcast without talking about how to be a writer. They say you need to be a reader first. And Katherine, in our last conversation, you talked about how you were slow to come to reading, but when your third-grade teacher read Charlotte’s Web, the concept of talking animals really hooked you. So, Gennifer, I would love to hear from you on whether there was a pivotal moment in which you considered yourself a reader.

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, my father was a big reader, so he read a book a night, and so reading was kind of a part of our household. And so, I loved reading right from the start. One of the things that I remember is the first book I read, which is kind of amazing; it was The Carrot Seed, which is a wonderful book. I’ve read it a million times since then because I was so proud to be able to read that book. And I loved the story. And again, it felt, as I said, like it was talking to me. That hopefulness. So, there’s just a lot of books that I loved, and I was fortunate that my older sister used to read to me. And I still remember she was reading a book, and we were on vacation. We somehow lost it at the airport. And I’ve never forgiven her for.

You know, in terms of the books that I liked. I loved Harriet the Spy. I really know Harriet the Spy was me, and I don’t know why, but also, A Little Princess was me. And I love The Secret Garden. And I love Charlotte’s Webb. I love The Egypt Game, and I was fortunate enough to be in a critique group with Zilpha Keatley Snyder as an adult, which was kind of amazing because I loved her book as a kid. What else did I love? I loved Across Five Aprils, The Moffatts, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I know is maybe not politically correct right now, but I loved it when I was a kid.

Katherine Applegate

Oh, I loved it, too.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah. Katherine, I did kind of pass over you on this question because you already answered it when we talked about Odder. But just in terms of growing readers, is there anything that you want to add on a nice tip for what you think can help raise readers?

Katherine Applegate

I think it’s so important to let kids fall in love with any kind of written word. Maybe it’s not the fiction that Mom and Dad necessarily would choose. Maybe it’s a graphic novel. My daughter had dyslexia growing up and still struggles, and for her, Raina Telgemeier’s books like Smile and Drama were lifesaving. Audiobooks were a huge help. And I think all parents get up in arms about—Oh, I remember to this day, I think Junie B. Jones is one of the best series ever written for kids. I just think it’s hilarious. And there are parents who don’t like it because she misbehaved. Oh, anything Dav Pilkey, my gosh, I adore. So, I think it’s really important to know, open the doors wide. Anything that involves words on paper or on a laptop, go for it.

Bianca Schulze

Yes. Reading is reading is reading.

Katherine Applegate

Exactly.

Bianca Schulze

Before we go, what’s one important point that you would like The Growing Readers listeners to just take away overall from our chat today?

Gennifer Choldenko

Well, just to add to what Katherine says, I think that Dav Pilkey should get the Presidential Medal of Honor because he got so many kids to know. So, anytime a book gets a kid to read, it is a magical book. One of the things that we worked on with Dogtown that Katherine really understood, which was new to me, was doing shorter chapters because when a kid finishes a chapter, it really feels great. They finished a chapter, and so if you have shorter chapters, they have that feeling of accomplishment because when you’re first starting to decode, I think this is a book for after an easy reader. When they’re first starting early middle grade, this is a really good book because they can feel like, wow, I read a real book with this one, and I laughed, and it was fun.

Bianca Schulze

Yeah, I think something, too, that we didn’t really touch on yet is that the really short chapters are so great. And we did talk about the illustrations, but how the illustrations sort of add to that page-turning effect too, where you’re still getting more of the story, but it’s also rewarding that the kids can get those pages turned and feel accomplished and how far they’re getting in deep into the book. I love that aspect, and I’ve talked about it on the podcast before, but there are a lot of parents who say, oh, my kids only want to read graphic novels. Why only graphic novels? Well, as Katherine said, any reading is reading, and it’s great. I love an illustrated chapter book for those parents who really feel like they have to insist that their kids read something other than a graphic novel. An illustrated chapter book is such a great segue now, reading maybe a few more words on a page but still getting those illustrations that the kids just need. Like you said, too, Gennifer, there’s decoding that happens with understanding a story by looking at the illustrations. I mean, they work hand in.

So, Katherine, what one important point would you like The Growing Readers Listeners to take away?

Katherine Applegate

I love what you just said about illustrated chapter books. That’s so true because I think my daughter used to call them fat books, real books. And for struggling readers, Dogtown is absolutely perfect. But it’s got enough content and humor and subtlety, especially in the illustrations, that I think it will work with older middle grade readers, too, because there’s a lot of action, things happen. So, it’s not a static book at all. I think it’s just really important to remember. There’s a saying I can never remember who said this fiction makes immigrants of us all. And I love that phrase because I think it’s so important for a child to go to other places in a book. And it doesn’t have to be a human place. It can be inside the mind of an animal. Understanding how that must feel develops empathy, and at the end of the day, that’s what reading is all about. It’s about developing empathy and compassion. And I think this book will help.

Bianca Schulze

Absolutely. Well, I am very confident that Dogtown will do more than just entertain. As you said, compassion is an essential value, and stories about animals are perfect for cultivating it in young minds. So, I believe that Dogtown is a story that will inspire kids to cherish and appreciate their fairy companions. It’s full of heart and brings joy and laughter. And who doesn’t love a book that makes you smile? So, thank you both for writing it. Thanks for writing all the incredible books you’ve both put into the world. And just thanks for being here today. You’re both appreciated so much.

Katherine Applegate

Thank you.

Gennifer Choldenko

Thank you. This has been so much fun.

About the Book

Publisher’s Book Summary: From beloved authors Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko and with illustrations from Wallace West, Dogtown is at once an uplifting story and a page-turning adventure, sure to find a forever home in readers’ hearts.

Dogtown is a shelter for stray dogs, misbehaving dogs, and discarded robot dogs, whose owners have outgrown them.

Chance, a real dog, has been in Dogtown since her owners unwittingly left her with irresponsible dog-sitters who skipped town.

Metal Head is a robot dog who dreams of being back in a real home.

And Mouse is a mouse who has the run of Dogtown, pilfering kibble, and performing clever feats to protect the dogs he loves.

When Chance and Metal Head embark on an adventure to find their forever homes, there is danger, cheese sandwiches, a charging station, and some unexpected kindnesses along the way.

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Show Notes

Katherine Applegate is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of beloved and award-winning books for young readers, including Odder, Home of the Brave, Crenshaw, Wishtree, Willodeen, and The One and Only Ivan, for which she won the Newbery Medal. She is also the author of the Animorphs series, and a beginning reader series, Doggo and Pupper, illustrated by Charlie Alder. Katherine Applegate lives in Southern California with her family.

You can find out more about Katherine Applegate at ⁠https://katherineapplegate.com/⁠.

Gennifer Choldenko’s best known Tales from Alcatraz series has been called “A cornerstone series in contemporary children’s literature.” Al Capone Does My Shirts―the first book in the series―was a Newbery Honor Book and the recipient of twenty other awards. All four books in the series were Junior Library Guild selections and garnered many starred reviews. Gennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her loyal husband and naughty dog.

You can find out more about Gennifer Choldenko at ⁠https://www.choldenko.com/⁠.

Thank you for listening to the Growing Readers Podcast episode: Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko Talk About Dogtown. For the latest episodes from The Growing Readers Podcast, Follow Now on Spotify.