NSCC professor pens third book – from pup’s perspective

LYNN – Dr. Love Maya is no stranger to publishing books, having written two titles over the last decade, but for her third release the North Shore Community College English professor had a hand from an unlikely co-author, her dog Tatiana.”The Dogs of Northside Avenue” is presented as an “unusual” children’s book for all ages, and that description becomes very apparent as the reader discovers that the story is being told by Tatiana, a shihtzu that has been living with Maya for several years.The true story follows Maya and Tatiana through a move from Revere Beach to Northside Avenue five years ago, following the dog’s thoughts through seeing her “mother” pack up boxes and making the move to a new neighborhood with new dogs.Throughout the story Tatiana shares her thoughts on life in her new home and her opinions on the other dogs in the neighborhood, frequently re-visiting the fact that she prefers people to animals.The idea for the unique story came to Maya at the suggestion of a friend who enjoyed her previous writings and knew that she had a close relationship with the dog.”When I moved I noticed that there were a lot of dogs that congregated on the street and played together. One day my friend came over and he saw the dogs interacting and said ‘this is another book,'” she said. “This story is different because this is a live dog telling it, it is not fiction. Usually you see a made up story and an imaginary character, you have never really seen this done before.”Maya wrote the first draft of the book in one day back in 2004, but problems with a publisher overseas delayed the release of the book until this summer. Although the situation in the neighborhood has changed some since she first sat down to write, Maya feels the book is still appropriate.”I have a full time teaching position, so I don’t have a lot of time, my first book took me eight years to write, but this one I sat down and wrote it in one sitting. Then I started to polish it up,” she said. “It was easy because it was just if the dog could speak, what would she say about the move from Revere Beach to Lynn.”Once she finished the story, Maya solicited the help of North Shore Community College art students Cody Fredrickson, Garrett Tsui, Lisa Duress, Sara Kuchinsky and Daniel Gouglam to design the artwork for the book, which also features real Polaroids of Tatiana and other neighborhood dogs.Maya says Tatiana is an incredibly smart dog, but she is not sure if she quite understands that she was the inspiration for the book.”I told her that if we were ever invited out to talk about the book she would have to be well groomed,” she joked. “I don’t know that she understands what is going on with the book but she definitely understands when I talk to her. If I am working and I say ‘I’m busy, you can’t sit on my lap’ she knows that she has to go right into her bed.”The Dogs of Northside Avenue is available now through Xlbris Publishing. Maya says she is in the process of writing a fourth book.