Two Questions and Three Sentence Starters with Julie Falatko

Hi, Julie! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. Thank YOU for dropping by to reveal the cover for Two Dogs in a Trench Coat Go to School. What planted the seed for this hilarious book?

Julie Falatko: Hi Mr. Schu! Thank you for having me! I have two dogs, and, like many pet owners, I spend a fair amount of my day narrating what I think my dogs are saying. I thought it would be fun to write a book that was approximately ninety percent dog dialog. In this book, two dogs want to follow their kid to school, so one climbs on top of the other, they throw on a trench coat, and pretend to be a human student, which leads to a lot of dog conversations.

What are three things we should know about Stewart?

Julie Falatko: Stewart doesn’t always feel comfortable in school, but he always feels comfortable with his dogs. At the beginning of the book, Stewart’s not even sure he likes school. But when his dogs show up, he sees how fun school actually is (you get to run after frisbees in gym and have lunch every day!).

Please finish these sentence starters:

Colin Jack’s illustrations crack me up. The expressions on the dogs’ faces are so amazing and hilarious that I laugh every time I look at them.

School libraries are places of magic and wonder. When I was in elementary school, Mrs. Wilbur the librarian would light a candle and sit in a rocking chair to read to us. We knew we had to be quiet and listen to the story when she lit that candle. Even the wiggliest kids were mesmerized by the flame. And the story.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me what my dogs think of the book. They told me they love it, but they think it could use more bacon.

Look for Two Dogs in a Trench Coat on May 29, 2018.