This is a unique pleasure to write a forward for an accomplished author like Ms. Paula Stark. Ms. Stark and I have become cohorts and colleagues under fascinating circumstances. We are both the leaders of our organizations and have been asked to collaborate as community members and forge a relationship to assist children in our community. Our partnership has grown this year through frequent conversations and activities that have enabled us to reach out and support my middle school and her newspaper. This relationship has created a lasting bond which has inspired me to seek out a greater interest in children’s literature because of her encouragement and desire to teach young students through her simplistic but germane topics in her books.
Her new book, Davy the Dog, has embraced American heritage and determination in such a poignant manner that the story will engage the reader and lay the foundation for further interest in American legends. As an educator and author of my own children’s book, I feel Paula has done an admirable job connecting the past with the moral lessons students should learn today. She has adeptly connected the dots between fact and fiction by using a beloved American pet, a dog, as the main character to draw out the compassion and emotion in young adolescent readers. I am sure her portrait of Davy Crockett as Davy the Dog in her book will arouse learners to continue reading and learning from childhood to adulthood. 