Everyone’s favourite tractor dude, Otis, is back for another adventure, this time with a special young puppy friend.
Author Loren Long is coming to Cayman’s Hollywood Theaters at 10.30am on Wednesday, 13 March, to discuss the latest kids’ book, which is the latest in a very popular series.
“We love dogs in our family and we have a puppy weimaraner named Moon who inspired the personality of the puppy in ‘Otis and the Puppy’,” Loren tells Weekender.
“Every farm needs a dog so I felt it would be a natural thing for Otis’s farmer to bring home a puppy one night.”
Loren’s career is an impressive one; he is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling illustrator of President Barack Obama’s picture book “Of Thee I Sing”, the re-illustrated edition of “The Little Engine That Could” by Watty Piper and “Mr. Peabody’s Apples” by Madonna. Otis was a little closer to home.
“It all started back when my two sons were 5 or 6 years old (now they are 15 and 17). My wife, Tracy and the boys made up a farm story about a tractor named Little Green Samuel. Their story had different characters and featured the farmer’s son. But the tractor did save the prized calf on the farm,” explains the author and illustrator.
They never wrote it down, they just told it over and over, kind of like we read the same picture book story over and over. Later when I was illustrating children’s books, I re-wrote their story, changed the plot around, renamed the tractor Otis and reworked the climax. Otis was the first story I had written. Prior to Otis, I had only illustrated other’s stories.”
Kids love it
Needless to say, the youngsters love it, as the author regularly finds out on his travels.
“Children tell me they love Otis and he is their friend. They like to say ‘putt puff puttedy chuff’ like Otis does.
“Parents and teachers like how the Otis stories feel like something that they might have read when they were children and they like the security and steadiness Otis brings their children. They like how Otis is a good friend to everyone, how he is dependable and always does the right thing even when it is not easy. They like the love that Otis is about.”
Nonetheless, kids being kids, talks and signings do tend to bring some rather interesting questions too.
“Once after I presented to a large group of children, the first little boy’s question was, ‘I need a band-aid,’” laughs Loren.
Otis, he says, would definitely love Grand Cayman, although finding a boat to take the tractor out to Stingray City might be a bit tricky.
Come hear the entire story and watch Loren recreate illustrations from the book. This free event is part of the Books & Books International Visiting Author Series, generously sponsored by Camana Bay. Wednesday, 13 March, 10.30am, Hollywood Theaters, free.
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