Our Luna. I’ve been yanking my leash all morning to get here and find out: Did you do it? Did you qualify for your fifty-visit pin?
Every dog eye in the basement is on me. I feel like I’m being poked with dozens of broomsticks. And here’s the thing: I don’t know. I don’t know if my Big Moontower Adventure caused me to lose all my therapy dog credits. Tessa should find out today, at this meeting, what happens to us next.
But that doesn’t help me with these poking eyes. So I chuckle like Caleb and say, I’m almost there.
Almost.
There it is again.
Goliath and five other dogs laugh. At me. Ah, Luna. Always at almost. Never fully there.
But one dog isn’t laughing. Samwise clears her throat. All ears prick toward her. We are all almost, are we not? Still growing, I’d hope. We are all still becoming what we’re meant to be.
And then Samwise turns, leaving seven stunned dogs to watch her upturned tail (which means also watching her . . . you know) walk away. That dog really needs to meet Sandpaper.
Almost.
Almost isn’t a feeling, but . . . it is. It feels close but not there. It feels like a fur coat full of static electricity or a too-short length of leash. It can feel like frustration if you let it.
Or almost can feel like excitement. Like you’re on the edge of something wonderful, on the shore about to leap into warm water, to splash in yellow joy with your friends.
Almost. You still get warm standing next to a fire. You still get light standing next to a flame. That place next to wonderful? It’s pretty great too.
Almost leaves room for the universe to work its magic.
Here’s what I know, thanks to almost: I used to think I needed to fill the holes of my clients. But we all have holes; they make us unique and beautiful. Like Tessa’s granny’s lace curtains. My job isn’t to fill holes. My job is to love my clients—my friends—holes and all.
Almost to the moontower was exactly where we needed to go. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we’d actually reached the moon.
THE END
(Almost)
Author’s Note
Two of my previous books, A Dog Like Daisy and Zeus, Dog of Chaos, both focus on the amazing things service dogs can do. Daisy assists a veteran, helping him manage posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and Zeus is a diabetic alert dog, helping a middle schooler manage Type I diabetes. In researching service dogs, I found a lot of information about therapy dogs as well. I knew I wanted to focus on those amazing animals next.
First, to clarify: Like trainer Barb says early in this story, emotional support animals and therapy animals have a lot in common. However, emotional support animals are trained to assist one person with his/her specific needs, and therapy animals are trained to assist a variety of people in a variety of scenarios.
Therapy pets are often found in hospitals, nursing homes, and retirement centers. They can also be found lending a paw in libraries and reading programs. Many therapy dogs assist counselors and therapists as they visit with their clients. I wanted to share the story of those calm and calming pets, the ones that assist counselors. After all, every one of us has struggled with defining and managing emotions at some point. Therapy dogs are trained to help us with that task.
Luna’s network of fellow therapy dogs is based on the real-life Therapy Dogs International (www.tdi-dog.org/default.aspx), and the training she receives is based on the guidelines of the American Kennel Club (see www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/akc-therapy-dog-program for information pertaining to therapy dogs). Visit those two sites if you’re interested in learning more about how to train your dog to become a therapy pet!
One thing to note: the guidelines for training a pet to become a therapy animal aren’t standardized or consistent, so if you’re interested in training a therapy pet, research first to pick a reputable organization near you.
I’m grateful to Dee Mathues and Missy Williams, both volunteers with a Nashville-based organization known as Therapy ARC (Animals Reaching Clients). Missy and her dog McCloud (a Newfoundland also known as Mac) visit hospitals, senior centers, and reading programs together. Missy loves watching how Mac brings clients out of their shell and encourages them to open up. You can learn more about Therapy ARC through their website, https://therapyarc.org. A portion of the sales of Luna Howls at the Moon will go to Therapy ARC.
My gratitude also goes to Sasha Cory-Pack. Sasha has participated in animal-assisted therapy since she was ten years old as a volunteer for the Red Cross, and I’m so grateful she shared her years of expertise with me. Sasha and her dog Percy counsel clients in the Nashville area (Sasha’s kid clients named Percy after—you guessed it—Percy Jackson!). Sasha says Percy is excellent at gently pulling the emotion from her clients during their sessions. I saw Percy in action at a coffee house; Sasha, Percy, and I sat outside, and the number of people who approached our table asking to pet Percy was astounding. They stroked his fur, talked to us a bit, and left with a smile. Sasha says Percy does this consistently with her clients. “I believe [dogs] are an extension of us,” Sasha told me. “I believe our consciousness and theirs blend.”
I’m so grateful to friends Summer Curwen and Shirley Amitrano. Both of these women are counselors, and I’m thankful they helped me understand and develop Tessa’s character and her counseling techniques. They also helped me shape Tessa’s amazing clients: Amelia, Beatrice, Caleb, and Hector, and the challenges each of them faces. I’m grateful that Summer and Shirley took the time to help me better understand how each client grows and evolves in counseling. They both leaped at the chance to help with a book that centers therapy and counseling as positive and rewarding. I hope Luna and I have made you both proud! Please note that any errors made in this arena are fully mine.
My thanks to the city of Austin, Texas, for being so wonderfully weird. I’ve taken a few liberties here and there (placing a church too near the capitol building, for instance, and inserting a convenience store where I conveniently needed one). But most of these landmarks are accurately located and true. Visit Austin and see—you’ll love it! (Plus it’s full of tacos and music and boots and bats—what’s not to love?!)
Dogs like Luna help us learn more about ourselves and our emotions. Those of us who love our pets know this instinctively, but many dogs work hard to help humans with a variety of feelings and tasks every day. Thank you to the trainers and animals who help humans navigate this world with a little more wag and a lot more drool. Not every superhero wears a cape; some of them wear dog collars.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the Kings and the Criscones for always cheering me on. I love y’all!
Thank you, Erica Rodgers, for being my first read and fast friend. I’m so grateful to be on this journey with you!
Thank you to the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), particularly the Midsouth chapter. You’ve given me skills and laughter and friendships to last a lifetime.
Thank you to Jeremy Cerveny, my Austin tour guide. I appreciate you showing me your stomping grounds!
Thank you to Josh Adams of Adams Literary. I feel so grateful that my agent is also my friend.
Thank you to Ben Rosenthal, my editor, who has now navigated three dog-worlds with me and who cheers on each story uniquely and with great grace. I’m grateful to all at Katherine Tegen Books for the beautiful stories they create for young readers.
A continued thank-you to all the booksellers, librarians, teachers, bloggers, festival organizers, parents, and grandparents who share books with kids! Luna would tell you: there is no better way to grow empathy than through a story.
A thank-you to my muses—Lucky (golden doodle), Cookie (cockapoo), Myrtle (pug), Nala (calico cat), and Daisy (mutt-cat). You make my life much messier and far more fun.
Thank you to the Tubbs, the Kites, the Grishams, the Goodmans, and the O’Donnells. I’m grateful to have such a large, beautiful, supportive family.
Thank you to Byron, Chloe, and Jack, always. There is no pack I’d rather howl with. I love you!
About the Author
Courtesy Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
KRISTIN O’DONNELL TUBB is the author of The Story Collector and its sequel, The Story Seeker; the award-winning A Dog Like Daisy; John Lincoln Clem: Civil War Drummer Boy (written as E. F. Abbott); The 13th Sign; Selling Hope; Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different; and Zeus, Dog of Chaos. Kristin lives near Nashville, Tennessee, with her bouncy-loud family. Just like her two dogs, she can be bribed with cheese. You can visit her online at www.kristintubb.com.
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Books by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
A Dog Like Daisy
Zeus, Dog of Chaos
Copyright
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
LUNA HOWLS AT THE MOON. Copyright © 2021 by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Cover art © 2021 by Mike Heath
Cover design by Andrea Vandergrift and Joel Tippie
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2020952902
Digital Edition JUNE 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-301864-8
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-301862-4
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2122232425PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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Luna Howls at the Moon Page 14