Those of you who know me, know I am very curious and will dig and dig to satisfy that curiosity. (And yes, that hole in the garden was necessary — I nearly caught a mole!) 

I also happen to live with a writer who is busy with a new manuscript so I’ve offered to take over this blog on occasion to help her out. I plan to use this time to fetch answers to book world questions I’ve been wondering about. She-Writer wants me to do this every Tuesday but, as a dog, I’ve never been good with calendars so we’ll have to see how it goes.

Of course, anyone — whether they have four legs or two — knows that any good children’s book needs a dog in it. It started way back with John Newbery, English publisher and namesake of the Newbery Medal. A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, first published in 1774, kicked off this grand tradition:

Sharp eyes will notice one of my canine ancestors

The book also happens to contain one of the first illustrations of a game called “baseball,” 

but we all know the real reason that Newbery’s book was such a hit.