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The Bad Dog Done Good
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
My two children's books -- "Bad Dog, Marley!" and "Marley: A Dog Like No Other" -- have been out since May 1, and I am just home from a three week publicity tour that took me from New Jersey to Connecticut to Chicago to Raleigh, Nashville and Memphis. On most days, I hit a school or two and finished with an evening appearance at a bookstore. I had a lot of fun reading "Bad Dog" to the younger kids at schools, who, as if on cue, squealed every time poop, pee or underwear were mentioned. Ah, the holy trinity of children's literature. I also enjoyed talking about writing, reading and dogs with the older kids, who asked a lot of great questions. My evening appearances drew mainly adults, which was a nice break from the Kidfest during the day.
The good news is that "Bad Dog, Marley!" goes to #1 on The New York Times children's illustrated-book bestseller list this Sunday. "Marley: A Dog Like No Other" is at #5 on the Times' chapter-book list. Hey, not bad for a bad dog! (See the lists at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/books/bestseller/0603bestchildren.html?_r=1&oref=slogin )
Back in grown-up land, "Marley & Me," which had fallen off the Times nonfiction bestseller list several weeks ago, popped back on, at #15, this past Sunday, helped no doubt by the publicity surrounding the children's books, including my appearance on The Today Show. This coming Sunday, it slips back onto the extended list, to #26. All told, the book has spent 76 weeks on the Times' top-15 list, 23 of them at #1. As we are fond of saying in our house, Marley has finally paid his family back for all the damage.
Here at home in eastern Pennsylvania, the landscape is a riot of color. Right now, the peonies have just opened in a glorious show, and my roses are also budding out. The most beautiful of them all, a vigorous hybrid called "Passionate Kisses." The mock orange bush, which has taken over the pathway to the deck, sends its intoxicating scent up and through the bedroom windows. The pair of geese down by the creek, whom my kids have named Mildred and Melvin, have hatched out 12 fluffy goslings, and it's fun watching them waddle around, tripping over each other. I was walking through the woods the other day and looked down to see a fawn -- just a tiny, fragile thing -- curled up beneath the canes of a wild rose. She wasn't more than five feet away. She stared up at me, breathing rapidly through her nostrils, as if trying to figure out if I was dangerous or a friend of her mom's who had dropped by to visit. I quietly backed away and left her to her devices. On the way back out of the woods, a great blue heron lifted off a stream bank, its impressive wing span casting a long graceful shadow over the meadow below it.
Man, spring. What a time of year. Soon the grass will be parched, the Japanese beetles all over the garden plants and the humidity over the moon. But for now, all is as perfect as perfect can be.
It's good to be home.
posted by John Grogan at 7:03 PM
 
1 Comments:
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Dear John,
After two weeks of browsing online in search of your book, I finally got mine yesterday. Like many people out there around the globe, I just can't put it down. I come from Indonesia, so you understand how hard it is for me to get the original copy of your book. The ones available around here is only the translated version, and I don't like 'em.
Marley is very similar to my Chelsea, a 10 months old Golden retriever. She's also jolly and destructive, yet I love her so much. The only difference between her and Marley is the obidience school. I pulled her out from the school because I can't bear any more separation from her. FYI, the obidience school that she went was like a boarding school, so she has to stay there for four weeks. At the second week, I pulled her out and not allowing her to ever leave my side ever again.
I'm halfway to finish up this book now, very excited to read it til the end, although I've already known the ending. But still, I'm amazed with your way of telling the story. I hope I can learn how to write my own unpublished stories by reading more of your books.
Please keep on writing. If there's any chance that you visit my country for book signing, I will surely be there. Please send my best regards to Jenny. She'd shown best qualities of a woman that I'd love to have later in my older years to come.