Dog and Bear, Fan Fiction

Dog and Bear (3:23) Let’s say you’re the proud owner of a stuffed bear. And let’s say he can talk. What would it say? Children’s book author and illustrator, Laura Vaccaro Seeger, tells us about her stuffed bear, along with her very much alive pet Dachshund. These two animals became the leading characters in her popular book series, Dog and Bear. Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and recipient of multiple honors including the Caldecott Honor Award and the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. Fan Fiction (13:38) Up next, Rachel chats with English Professor, Jonathan Alexander, who writes frequently about Fan Fiction. Alexander gives us more insight into the genre, which involves fans who expand existing fiction with additional characters and settings. Alexander is Chancellor's Professor of English, Education, and Informatics at the University of California, Irvine, where he is also Founding Director of the Center for Excellence in Writing & Communication. He’s the author, co-author, or editor of thirteen books, including Writing Youth: Young Adult Fiction as Literacy Sponsorship. Poetry (26:23) We finish up today’s show with two poems: William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud read by Ciara Hulet, assistant producer at BYU Radio; and Nature, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, read by Classical 89 announcer, Peg Woodruff.