Q&A with Audrey Wood

A: When I was growing up, I was lucky to have Freddie, a standard sized Dachshund (wiener dog) in my family. Freddie loved to lie on his back, and balance a beverage can in his two front paws. He would adroitly tilt the can into his mouth and slurp up any dregs that a human might have carelessly left behind. It was quite a trick!

My sisters and I set up a little theater in the basement of our house where we often put on plays. Admission, for friends and family, was a dime, which was quite a bit of money in those days. Freddie was our opening act. When my father saw our first production, he was so enthusiastic about Freddie's intro that he threw a handful of coins onto our stage. The sound of coins raining down startled Freddie. He blamed the interruption on George, my cat, who was dressed in a baby doll's costume. The chase around the basement temporally shut down the production - but it got rave reviews for years!

Q: Do you have a dog now?

A: The canine friends I live with now (they don't like to be called "dogs") are two Pugs named Sumo and Duffy (you can see them on my web site at www.audreywood.com) and our newest addition, Zara, our gentle, 130lb (and growing) English Mastiff.

Q: What came first, text or illustration?

A: I was inspired to write my story from a series of doodles I drew while talking on the phone.

Q: What medium did you work in?

A: I was so excited after writing A Dog Needs A Bone, that I immediately sketched the entire book out in pencil without giving a thought as to how it would be colored. I had never done this before. When I finished the sketches, I then had to decide what medium to use for color. As an illustrator of many years experience, I never assumed that the coloring of my sketches would be a problem. I tried several mediums with which I'm familiar, watercolor, acrylic, oil paints, and pastels. I was not happy with any of the results. In fact, I was very frustrated with my attempts, and almost abandoned the entire project. Then one day I recalled how much fun I had coloring when I was a child. I would spend entire rainy days creating art on paper bags with crayons. In a sudden flash of inspiration I knew that was my answer! I had a wonderful time illustrating A Dog Needs A Bone, using children's crayons on brown paper bags. I believe the medium helped me to retain a light-hearted, humorous approach. After all, how serious can you be when you set aside your artist's colors of yellow ochre and alizarin crimson and instead reach for jazz berry jam and purple pizzazz?

Q: Were you inspired by your dogs?

A: It is very possible that one of my Pugs whispered the idea for this book in my ear while I was sleeping.

Contributor: Scholastic Inc.

Further information about Audrey and her books is available at www.audreywood.com.