There were some interesting sights this week at the BookExpo America publishing convention at McCormick Place: the woman with the homemade unicorn horn affixed to her forehead, the life-size “North Pole Ninja” elf-creature in town to promote good deeds and his upcoming holiday book.
RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR
But even so, the 140-pound dog with silky black ears attracted attention.
“Oh! There’s a dog here,” said a distinguished-looking middle-aged man who stopped to gawk at the canine sprawled on the floor of the Penguin Random House Canada booth.
“A real dog!” said his female companion.
“It’s not a rug,” a member of the press corps joked.
“I know!” the woman said. “I saw it move and I was like — what?”
It’s rare for an animal to attend a major American publishing convention, but George, the aforementioned 140-pounder, is no ordinary dog. His owner, Colin Campbell, writes that his marriage had split up and he was at a personal low point when he adopted George, a neglected black-and-white Newfoundland, from a shelter. But with the help of his new friend, Campbell rebuilt his life and wrote a best-selling book about their experience, “Free Days With George: Learning Life’s Little Lessons From One Very Big Dog.”
Now, with the paperback edition being released in the U.S., Colin and George are doing a book tour together, complete with a full-size tour bus plastered with an image of George lounging on the beach.
“I was a marketer before I became an author, so I understand the power of connecting with people physically,” Campbell said Wednesday. “Today, most books are sold through social media, and reviews, and things you can read on a computer — which is fantastic. It’s all good. But I really felt that if I could bring people to see George — once you meet him in person, it’s a different experience.”
George does indeed have a calming effect. He’s actually a gifted surfer — the book has photos to prove it. But lounging in the carpeted booth while Campbell signed books, he was supremely relaxed and gracious, accepting head pats from everyone and occasionally rousing himself to personally greet a fan who was waiting in line for a (human) autograph.
“We’re out for five weeks, and we’re going to 25 cities coast to coast,” Campbell said. “And not only are we signing books, and we’re going to retail (book) stores in every city, but we’re also stopping at some shelters, because George used to be homeless, and we’re donating food to homeless dogs as we go across the country.”
Campbell describes traveling with George as “awesome.”
“We’ve got a very comfortable bus; it’s like a huge tour bus. We have a couch in there, and a TV, and George has his own bed. So far we’ve had three- to four-hour city-to-city trips, but starting Saturday we have our first long one, we go from Minneapolis to Denver, and that’s like a 13-hour drive,” he said.
Asked if he’d do a book tour with a dog again, Campbell, a first-time author, smiled.
“Maybe not just any dog,” he said. “I would do one with George again. He’s a special dog. I mean, he looks different than most dogs. I think inside, he’s a bit of a person: He knows what we’re doing, he loves the attention, he loves when people hug him and take his picture. He’s a great dog — I couldn’t travel with a better one.”
Twitter @nschoenberg
RELATED STORIES:
Cecil the lion’s cubs: Where are they now?
New books detail just how smart animals really are
.galleries:after {
content: ”;
display: block;
background-color: #144A7C;
margin: 16px auto 0;
height: 5px;
width: 100px;
}
.galleries:before {
content: “Life & Style Photos and Video”;
display: block;
font: 700 23px/25px Georgia,serif;
text-align: center;
color: #1e1e1e;
var playlist = ‘chi_life_style’,
layout = ‘autoblurb’,
iu = ‘%2F4011%2Ftrb.chicagotribune%2Ffeature’;
