In a couple of weeks, Tachyon Publications will release the latest book by Daniel Pinkwater: Jules, Penny & the Rooster. In his latest book, Pinkwater “brings his zany wit and wisdom to the magical adventures of a clever girl and her brave dog.” A novel “told with warmth and wit”, it is an “exploration of growing up, the power of family, and how sometimes the best things in life happen when you least expect them.” Fans of the author’s other Tachyon-published novels will no doubt find much to like in his latest. To whet readers’ appetite, the publisher has allowed CR to share an excerpt with you all. Here’s the synopsis:

Jules McShultz was promised a dog. Supposedly, she’d get one once her family moved from the city to the suburbs. But then her parents decided it still wasn’t the right time.

So Jules does what any intelligent girl would do. Instead of sulking, she enters an essay contest and wins first prize: A purebred Collie. And no one — not even Jules’s parents — can resist Penny, who is Jules’s perfect new canine pal.

Jules and Penny are ready to spend the summer exploring the woods by the house. But the woods are not at all what they seem to be. Magic and adventure await them just on the other side of an old stone wall.

*

This is what happened. This is what I did not know while riding the train. My father was at work in the city, and my mother was analyzing house plants at the home of one of her clients. My sister had her blue terry-cloth bathrobe on, and was wearing her orange fuzzy slippers. The TV channel that shows movies was running a Peter Lorre festival. The Beast with Five Fingers had just ended, and Mad Love (also released with the title Hands of Orlac) was coming up next. Phillippa had gotten a bowl of cornflakes with milk, being careful not to bump or let anything touch her broken finger.

The doorbell chimed. Phillippa opened the front door. On the porch was a man holding a string. One end of the string, the man held. The other end of the string was tied around the neck of a dog. The dog was a collie.

“Are you Jules McShultz?” the man asked.

“I am her sister,” my sister said.

“Here,” the man said.

He handed his end of the string to my sister.

My sister took hold of the string with her good hand, the one without the broken finger.

“Congratulations, Jules McShultz,” the man said. “Your letter was the best, and you are the winner of this fine purebred collie dog.”

“I am not Jules McShultz,” my sister said. “I am her sister. Jules is not here. I wrote no letter.”

“Well, you know what I mean,” the man said. “Enjoy your fine purebred collie dog.”

The collie lay down on the porch and apparently went to sleep.

The man got into a small gray car and drove away.

“And then what happened?” I asked my sister.

“I went into the house. The dog came with me. I gave her my bowl of cornflakes. We watched the movie.”

“It’s a she?”

“To the best of my knowledge.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“I thought you would say that. I spent an hour brushing her. Look at all I got.” Phillippa showed me a shopping bag stuffed full of collie combings. “If you look closely, there are a million twigs and leaves mixed in with the loose fur. I hope you don’t mind, I used your hairbrush.”

I told her I was fine with that.

“I did all this work one-handed,” Phillippa said. “I put a plastic bag on the injured hand, and gave your dog a beauty treatment while keeping my broken finger in the air.”

“Thank you, and why do you say she’s my dog, not our dog, and why did you do this wonderful thing?”

“Well, she’s not my dog. You’re the one who won her. You’re the one who’s been dreaming of a dog all this time. And I thought I’d better neaten her up in case Mother came home before you did. You wouldn’t have had much of a chance of keeping her if Mom saw her as grubby and skeezy as she was.”

“You are a good sister, actually,” I said. “I forget it from time to time. And did the man say who he was, or who gave us the collie, or anything?”

“Nothing.”

“What did he look like?”

“He was thin. He was bald. Bald with a fringe. He had the kind of glasses with no rim, just lenses and ear wires. He had a blue tie with musical notes. He had sandals on and white socks. I never saw him before.”

“No, me neither. I mean, I never saw him at all. Did the dog eat anything else?”

“She had seconds of cornflakes with milk, and some water.”

We were kneeling with the collie between us. She gave me a lick on the cheek. Then, she fell asleep.

“By the way, that was the last time I brush your dog for you,” Phillippa said.

“They’re never going to let me keep her,” I said.

“Oh, I think they will,” Phillippa said.

“You do?”

“Here comes Mother. Play along with me,” Phillippa said.

*

Daniel Pinkwater’s Jules, Penny & the Rooster is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in North America and in the UK, on March 11th.

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