The Great Gracie Chase: Stop that Dog! Stop That Dog!

Gracie is a dog who enjoys the quiet life. For her, there's nothing more pleasant than sitting indoors, resting peacefully. One day, however, Gracie's world is turned upside-down with the arrival of some noisy, bustling painters. Gracie barks at them, ordering them out of her house, but to her surprise, Gracie is put out instead. When Gracie decides to take a walk outdoors–all by herself–it doesn't take long for someone to notice she's missing. Soon, the painters, the neighbors, the garbage man and the paperboy are running after her, and Gracie can't figure out why . . . so she keeps on running! Soon the whole town joins in the chase, but Gracie outruns them all and returns home–all by herself.

As a child in West Virginia, Cynthia Rylant never dreamed of becoming a writer. In her free time, she devoured Archie comic books and paperback romances and enjoyed the outdoors. But after taking one college English class, she was, “hooked on great writing… I didn’t know about this part of me until I went to college-didn’t know I loved beautiful stories.” And one night, inspired by the Southern writer James Agee, she sat down and wrote When I Was Young in the Mountains. Named a Caldecott Honor Book and an ALA Notable Book, it was an instant success. Since that night, Rylant hasn’t stopped creating wonderful books. Her stories explore friendship, love, grief, and other mysteries, and often draw on her memories of growing up in Appalachia. “I get a lot of personal gratification thinking of those people who don’t get any attention in the world and making them really valuable in my fiction-making them absolutely shine with their beauty.” She lives with her many pets in the Pacific Northwest. Mark Teague is an award-winning children's book author and illustrator whose books include the NEW YORK TIMES bestselling How Do Dinosaurs... series, the LaRue series, FIREHOUSE!, FUNNY FARM, and many other humorous picture books. Mark lives in New York state with his wife and their two daughters.