The author, on her dogs' names and nicknames:
We landed on the name Broomis after a few other names including, Pancake, Chickpea, and Sun Bear, failed somehow. (I know. What were we thinking?) Broomis was the name of a “roly-poly” bear in an old children’s song—spelled Brumus, actually—but we changed that because our guy is the color of broom straw. Atticus was named by his foster-family. We thought he’d been through enough changes in his young life already (picked up running in the wilds of Kentucky…) so we kept it. We like it, but he’s really more of a Scout.About Connor's new novel for kids, The Truth as Told by Mason Buttle:
Aliases? You bet. Nicknames happen endlessly at our house. Broomis is also known as: Broo, Broo-bacah-soda crackah...[read on]
Mason Buttle is the biggest, sweatiest kid in his grade, and everyone knows he can barely read or write. Mason’s learning disabilitiesVisit Leslie Connor's website.are compounded by grief. Fifteen months ago, Mason’s best friend, Benny Kilmartin, turned up dead in the Buttle family’s orchard. An investigation drags on, and Mason, honest as the day is long, can’t understand why Lieutenant Baird won’t believe the story Mason has told about that day.
Both Mason and his new friend, tiny Calvin Chumsky, are relentlessly bullied by the other boys in their neighborhood, so they create an underground club space for themselves. When Calvin goes missing, Mason finds himself in trouble again. He’s desperate to figure out what happened to Calvin, and eventually, Benny.
But will anyone believe him?
Coffee with a Canine: Leslie Connor & Atticus and Broomis.
--Marshal Zeringue
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