A MOUSE AND HIS DOG by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko

I was honored to feature the first book in this series, Dogtown, and also enjoyed featuring the other books from these authors that debuted this year, including Katherine Applegate’s The One and Only Family and Gennifer Choldenko’s The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman. The newest in the Dogtown series, A MOUSE AND HIS DOG is set to debut today (!) September 17, 2024.

Mouse lives in Dogtown, a shelter for real dogs and robot dogs, where the kibble is plentiful, and the rafters hide a secret community of mice. His unlikely best friend is Buster, a big-hearted real dog who attracts trouble like a burr to fur.

Determined to help Buster find his forever home, even if means losing his best pal, Mouse embarks on a bold quest with three of Dogtown’s “unadoptables”: Buster, Stewie–a huge, lovable dog whose ex-owner said he was mean, and Smokey–a robot dog hardwired with a smoke alarm he can’t control.

But Mouse is just a mouse, and the world is big and complicated. How’s a little guy supposed to find homes for the dogs he loves?

In a recent interview, Katherine said, “Sequels pose their own unique challenges.” What was the most challenging part of writing this sequel for each of you?

KA: One challenge was that we’d fallen in love with all our characters in the first book, but of course couldn’t spend time with every single one. It’s always a balancing act. Readers want familiarity and comfort, but they also want something fresh.

GC: When I was in fourth grade, I read Harriet the Spy and I fell hard for it. I had never read a book with a voice like that, and it blew me away. Then I read the sequel: The Long Secret and I became enraged at Louise Fitzhugh. I felt personally betrayed. I could not understand how the first book could be so good and the second book so boring. That memory came back to me when we started Mouse and His Dog. So guess what? Katherine and I worked really really hard to write a second book as strong as the first.

Always a daunting task! In MOUSE AND HIS DOG, Mouse takes the microphone, so to speak, and narrates Buster’s story. What, if anything, has this helped you learn about Buster and his character? And in what ways did Mouse surprise you?

KA: Seeing sweet, goofy, always-in-trouble Buster through Mouse’s eyes helped to establish the depth of their unlikely friendship, I think. Mouse surprised me most with his remarkable tenacity. He just plain refuses to give up on his dream of finding forever homes for his pals.

GC: I’ve always been fond of Buster. I love his energy, his exuberance, his spontaneity, and his kind but misguided heart. And I am, if truth be told, not that different than Buster. I stick my foot in my mouth, I have so much excess energy that I drive my family bonkers, and I have colorful ways of rationalizing my own behavior. All of which to say I know Buster pretty well. So I would say Buster helped me understand Mouse rather than the other way around. Mouse is a small being with a big heart. And he is an extremely practical sensible guy. (Unless he’s hungry and then all bets are off.) Buster saw things in Mouse that not even Mouse knew were there.

Ha, I think I’m kinda Buster-ish too. How do you both juggle multiple projects at once?

KA: Well, let’s just say balls get dropped every now and then! That said, when you hit a wall with a given project, it’s a great relief to be able to switch gears and turn your attention to something different. The grass is always greener.

GC: Sometimes my head will be deeply in one project, when I have a deadline for another. Then I sit myself down and give myself a stern talking to. This is what I say: Writing a novel is like painting a mural in a phone booth. It is hard to get far enough back from it to be able to see the entire thing. And seeing the macro of a book is oh so valuable in shaping it. When you let go of a book and move on to something else that gives you real perspective when you return. Am I successful when I read myself the riot act in this way? Not always.

“It’s like painting a mural in a phone booth” is probably one of the most clever (and accurate) analogies I’ve heard about writing a novel! In our last interview about Dogtown, Gennifer said, “We are working on a second Dogtown book right now. No telling what will happen after that.” Now that the second Dogtown book is out, is there anything you can tell us yet?

KA: Not sure yet, but I’ve got all available fingers and toes crossed.

GC: I’m ever hopeful. I would dearly love to have the chance to spend more time with Mouse, Metal Head, Buster, Chance, Saanvi, and Mr. Molinari.

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