I'd love to visit your school and talk about my latest picture book! From Horses to Dogs to Emily Dickinson: How an Idea Became a Book.

Most people envision one our country's finest poets, Emily Dickinson, tucked away in her bedroom, dressed in a spotless white dress while she writes gorgeous lyrical poetry about life, death, nature, and immortality.  There was another side to Emily. For sixteen years she owned a huge, slobbery, shedding Newfoundland dog.  My picture book Emily and Carlo tells their story.

My thirty minute talk will trace how an idea becomes a book, while sharing the story of Emily Dickinson and her beloved dog, Carlo.

Emily Dickinson ranks as one of America's greatest poets, but she was also a friend—a caring person who loved a very large, hairy canine for sixteen years. She named him, romanticized him, confided in him, drew strength from him, played with him, cared for him, and grieved acutely when she lost him.  Emily Dickinson's poetry is sometimes difficult for children to understand—her love for her dog is not.

Contact me at marty@martyrhodesfigley.com for more information.

My July 2012 appearance at the Emily Dickinson Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts, with a 130-lb. Great Pyrenees named King David—a quite charming stand-in for Carlo!