This special Story Seeds collaboration brings together nine-year old Jocelyn and Newbery Award-winning Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan and Willodeen.

Katherine helps Jocelyn grow this story idea:

My story seed is about a super service dog (based off of my own dog Sally) who helps kids with cancer feel better. 

Join our host Betsy Bird as she guides you through this collaboration full of hope and resilience. Featured segments include:

• Katherine and Jocelyn's meeting over video chat where they get to know each other, meet each other's dogs, and brainstorm how to grow Jocelyn's story idea (6:44)
• Real-time voice memo recordings where Katherine chronicles her writing process  for Jocelyn (19:50)
• An immersive storytime where Katherine narrates the full-fledged tale — "Two Brave Girls, One with Four Paws"—she grew from Jocelyn's story seed (23:56)

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Additional Information

Books mentioned in this episode: The Odyssey, The Mahabarata, Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DeCamillo, the Dogman series by Dave Pilkey, and  The Only and Only Ivan and Willodeen by Katherine Applegate.

Media and Games mentioned in the episode: How to Train Your Dragon, Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses, Animal Upon Animal, and Don't Stop Believing by Journey

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next Thursday to hear Betsy's bonus interview with Katherine. It’s a fun one and also includes a rapid-fire Q&A with the Newbery Award-winning author herself.

Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com to download a companion printable activity kit for this episode. You can also order a copy of our NYTimes Wirecutter-approved Imagination Lab activity book! Follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Show credits

The Story Seeds Podcast is Literary Safari production, created and executive produced by Sandhya Nankani. This episode was produced and written by her and Anjali Sakhrani. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik of Ultraviolet Audio. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT.  This episode is sponsored by Macmillan Children's Publishing. 

Special thanks to Joseph Tisdall for post-production support.