Shiba Children's book

animatorshiba

I am taking a children books writing course and now we are doing picture books.
I want to write mine about Shiba/Nihon Ken possibly but I'm still deciding the story : )

i've come up with these so far:

proper way to treat puppies/dogs - shibas or other n.k. in particular
(maybe discuss things like leashes, not pulling on dogs, why dogs growl or nip, etc.)

story about a kid going on an adventure with his dog, but its actually in the back yard (as in have varying illustrations about what it is and what is imagined)
possibly fighting demons under the bed, capturing a fort (treehouse) etc.

what are your takes on it?

: )
we all have to make "dummy books" and i think we also have to write to a publisher for our book - I will also illustrate it despite the fact illustrating is not required for the class (as it is a writing course)



ideas welcome.

ljowen123

Very neat! When we were growing up, one of the games we played was pirates. We had a huge porch (with no railing) and it was our pirate ship. There was one rock at one end that was very level, about 2 ft high, and three feet long - it was our "plank" for Walking the Plank. We usually played this in the afternoon when it was raining, because we couldn't truly play outside and we would drive my mom nuts inside. This was a happy medium. We made sailboats to float & capture. We had pretty imaginative games - this was early 80's - we had no cable and cartoons didn't come on until 3, so we created adventures in our yards.

animatorshiba

that sounds like awesome amounts of fun! i love playing pirates!

ljowen123

It was fun! We had a porch swing and we would stand on it as a lookout (think Crow's Nest) to scout for other ships. We also had a two-story fort in the woods that was really cool. I can remember camping out in the fort - I don't ever remember sleeping in our treehouse overnight.

animatorshiba

: ) man that sounds like so much fun. I miss getting to do stuff like that. We used to camp in our basement, with little fires made of paper and flashlights. : )

Stranger

Sounds like some good ideas already!

Here is my 2 cents as far as the semi-educational content: I think it would be great to help kids understand how to deal with strange dogs in different situations, like encountering dogs with their owners on a walk, or dogs wandering around on their own. Also, how to be prepared for their own dogs reactions to other dogs in these situations, and how to interpret dogs body language--is a barking dog excited and happy, excited and angry, or just saying hello?

You could work various encounters into the kids imagined adventures. Successful or less than successful interactions could be part of a mythical story line portion--a scary and territorial neighborhood dog that barks a lot while in its yard might be a "monster" in the kid's imagination, but later turn out to be a nice dog when encountered off its home turf in the company of the owner.

Anyway that's what occurred to me immediately. Feel free to use or disregard it, and good luck.

animatorshiba

those are some great ideas! I was thinking about maybe mentioning to ask the dog owner before petting its dog, and to be really careful and such. i like your idea about the monster dog! haha i used to think the mastiff in our neighborhood was a monster when i was little

tobyshiba

aww, i'm writing/illustrating a book on Shibas. ~ except mine is more like personifying the Shiba and showing the routine if the Shiba was a human child. xD Still.

animatorshiba

that sounds like an awesome book, i'd love to see it when its done. : )

animatorshiba

okay here's my story outlines its pretty rough so far:

its going to start with a kid pointing at a pet store but then his mom takes him to a shelter, and they talk about spay/neuter, and reasons pets are abandoned, etc. then they adopt a dog ( possibly an older mutt dog ) then the kid shows the dog what his stuff is, like here is your bowl, etc. then the mom gives the kid the leash and talks about importance, and then they go on "adventures" then bath with dog shampoo, then bed.

if you want ill put up mock ups later

ljowen123

I'd love to see mockups!

Sangmort

Sounds very cute ~

animatorshiba

Thanks, I should have them up soon, but will have first drafts by monday as that's when our "first pass" is due

sunyata

Sounds very cute... and educational!

Saya

So far your book sounds very good animatorshiba I wish you goodluck.