Can We Get a Rhinoceros? follows a young boy with an active imagination who wants to convince his mom to get him an unusual pet while she tries to be more practical. What inspired your story?

I retired from a career in education (teacher and administrator) but have substituted in retirement. While working in a long-term second-grade assignment, the kids were working on animal projects. They chose some of the more interesting animals, and one student said he told his mom he wanted an elephant.

Your characters are wonderfully emotive and relatable. Were you able to use anything from your own life to inform their character development?

Most definitely. I grew up in farm and dairy country, and we had animals (chickens, goats, cows, show Herefords). I was a precocious child and wanted a penguin (we had been reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins in class). My mom asked pretty much the same questions that the mom in this book did.

I loved the discussion between the mother and son about the pros and cons of a rhinoceros. What was your favorite scene in this story?

That’s a little difficult to answer because I had so much fun with this story. If I had to choose one, I would say the conclusion because I didn’t have an ending until I read it to my second graders, and one of the students said he had a dog that he dressed up for Halloween.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

Actually, I have several stories I am working on and not sure which will be the next book in the Chris Kueng Library Collection. I have several stories in progress. When I tire of working on one story or get “stuck,” I go to work on another story. Fortunately, I have flow maps that plot out the stories. This makes it easier to overcome writer’s block. The books I have been working on are:

1. Granddad’s Treasures
2. Honey, the Sleeping Beauty Bee
3. Can We Get a Giraffe?
4. Winston and Cooper
5. The Principal Wore Polka Dots

My goal is to have a book out every one to two years.

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