An Interview with Don M. Winn: Going to the Cats?

7.24.10 - Michael F. Shaughnessy - I’ve had both dogs and cats over the years but primarily cats so I have a wealth of cat observations to pull from. The storylines of the two books that feature cats, The Watch Cat and Shelby the Cat are considerably different.

Michael F. Shaughnessy
Eastern New Mexico University
Portales, New Mexico

1) Don, as parents look for some summer reading, I notice that you have "gone to the cats". You have two books that focus on cats, rather than dogs. Why this trend?

I’ve had both dogs and cats over the years but primarily cats so I have a wealth of cat observations to pull from.  The storylines of the two books that feature cats, The Watch Cat and Shelby the Cat are considerably different.  Shelby the Cat is about facing peer pressure while The Watch Cat actually emphasizes the difference between dogs and cats.

2) Let's talk about Shelby, one of the hero cats. Tell us about Shelby and what Shelby is trying to do and what Shelby encounters?

Unlike the average cat, Shelby stretches out his paw of friendship to all other animals, including mice and birds.  Shelby is kind, generous, and loves to learn.  Contrast Shelby with a gang of seven particularly bad alley cats that terrorize and take advantage of all the other animals within their sphere of influence.  You can imagine that at some point Shelby and the gang of alley cats will come face to face.

3) Now, you have another book on The Watch Cat....we all know about "watch dogs", but how does a cat replace man's best friend?

That’s the irony behind the notion of a Watch Cat.  The general nature of a cat is not geared towards loyalty to a master or of protecting home and family from intruders.  Although the story appears to point to a cat doing a dog’s work, in actuality, the cat in the story stays true to its nature.  I don’t want to say any more without spoiling the ending.

4) In a sense, Shelby is following the Boy Scout motto of doing a good deed a day. What happens to Shelby as Shelby attempts these positive endeavors?

When the gang of seven alley cats hears about all of Shelby’s good deeds, they become irate because they think he makes them look bad.  Their solution?  Confront Shelby and intimidate him in to giving up his good deeds and joining their gang.  The pivotal moment of the story is the confrontation between Shelby and the gang of seven, how Shelby responds, and what helped him to remain true to himself. 

5) Most of your books try to teach some kind of lesson or moral. Is this intended?

Absolutely, some of the best and most enduring stories are those that have a lesson or a moral.  A good example of that is Aesop’s Fables.  Many of Aesop’s fables or stories, although written hundreds of years ago, are some of the most well known stories today, all of which entertain while teaching a valuable lesson.

A good example is that of the “Ant and the Grasshopper”.  Who doesn’t know the story about the industrious Ant who prepared for the winter while the Lazy Grasshopper played all summer long?  Come winter, the Ant had what it needed while the grasshopper was left cold and hungry – the moral: It is best to be wise and plan ahead.

6) Some of your books try to enhance imagination and creativity. Why do you think these constructs are important?

Because imagination, creativity, and critical thinking skills are the genesis of the entire human family's accomplishments.  Where would we be if no one had ever noticed birdsong and discovered its music, and then set about devising the means for personal expression of musical wonder?  Or imagine the "stone age" implications if no one had ever sought to understand and map the Periodic Table of the Elements?  What if the Industrial Revolution never occurred?

The fact is, each human, to varying degrees, has the ability to discern, understand, and then create.  Belief in one's own ability to do so, fostered from a young age, brings the next generation's possibilities into reality.  And who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

7) Do you have a web site where parents can get some of your books? And what would we find there?

Yes, www.cardboardboxadventures.com.  From my website, you will be able to order any of my books, read reviews, see upcoming events, read interviews, etc… I also plan on adding soon an Activities page where kids can print coloring sheets of some of the characters in my books and a Cardboard Box News page.

8) What can we look forward to from Cardboard Box Adventures in the future?

One story I have planned for later in the year focuses on overcoming learning challenges.  It’s about a young homing pigeon with dyslexia, called the Higgledy-Piggledy Pigeon.  The story has our young backwards pigeon starting his first year of flight school but quickly discovers that he has a poor sense of direction, for he always ends up going the wrong way and needs to ask for help in finding his way to and from class.

The heroine of the story is his teacher, who is actually patterned after a teacher that helped me my first year.  She takes the young pigeon under her wing (figuratively and literally) and helps him compensate for his dyslexia with a compass.  It’s probably fairly obvious how the story ends, for the young pigeon, after getting the right kind of help, is able to graduate from flight school with top honors.