Check out our interview with Blair Braverman, author of "The Day Leap Soared."
What was the inspiration behind your most recent book?
I’ve been a dogsledder for 20 years, which means I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of amazing dogs! A few years back, I raised a solo puppy named Leap, who absolutely lived up to her name — she was always soaring through the air. She also couldn’t wait until she was big enough to run with the rest of the team. When she finally did, her excitement was pure magic. I wanted to write a book that captured the joy of discovering what you love most — and learning that your community is ready to help you do it, and that you can help them, too.
What does Reading Rainbow mean to you?
To me, Reading Rainbow means celebrating individuality and community at the same time. It means that we can be fully ourselves, and be loved and seen as ourselves. And when we read others’ stories, especially stories that represent experiences other than our own, we have a chance to do the same thing for other people.
Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it comes to writing books?
Reading, and consuming other forms of art, is the closest we can get to being inside someone else’s experience. My former writing professor, the brilliant Jenny Boylan, quotes her mom as saying, “It’s impossible to hate someone whose story you know.” I think about that a lot — it seems more important these days than ever.
Tell us a little more about the book and why you decided to write it.
For years, I shared stories of my sled dogs on Twitter (RIP), and a really wonderful community formed around the team. I love the simplicity of dog stories; we can learn from them more directly than we can from human stories, I think, because with dogs we let down our guards.
While I was on Twitter, I encountered an artist named Olivia When, who did a project called #Doggust where she painted dogs every day in August. I thought she captured dogs’ emotions and energy perfectly, and I fell in love with her use of color and light. From then on, I wanted so badly to make a book about dogs with her! Seeing Leap’s story come to life through her paintings has been a dream come true.
What can fans expect from your book?
For people who are already familiar with my sled dogs, they can expect to see some familiar faces from the team — Colbert, Grinch, Donut, Boo, Refried, and Jenga — working together to get through challenges in the snowy woods.
For people who are new to my team, or new to mushing, I hope they’ll get a glimpse of the beauty of mushing: the way a team of dogs works together in the wilderness, finding their way through countless adventures. When I was a kid, I fell in love with dogsledding through books. I hope Leap helps others do the same!
What’s up next for you in the bookish world?
I’ve always loved survival stories, and especially when I was young, I really couldn’t get enough of them. I read Hatchet more times than I can count. But most of the survival books I read were about boys, so I rarely saw myself reflected in them. These days, I’m working on a book about a girl who gets lost in the woods — and survives, of course, with the help of a dog.
