Decatur Book Festival 2026 - I Am a Good Dog: Kidnote with Katherine Applegate & Gennifer Choldenko

From the venue:

Join us for the Kidnote! Bestselling and beloved authors Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko return to the Dogtown series with I Am a Good Dog. Metal Head, a robot dog in the Dogtown shelter, longs to find a forever home in the New York Times–bestselling series that has already found a home in readers' hearts.

Purchase your book from Little Shop of Stories and a portion of your purchase will benefit the Decatur Book Festival.

This event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, and seating is first come, first served.

Signing information:
Signing time: 11:00 AM

Signing end time: 12:00 PM
Signing location: Core Dance Studios, 133 Sycamore St.
Signing line guidelines:

In the signing line, Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko will sign up to five (5) books in total — that includes recently purchased books AND books from home.

Candid photographs are okay - no posed photos, so we can make sure every reader has a chance to talk to the authors.

All author signings at the Decatur Book Festival are one hour in duration. Thank you for understanding!

About the Authors

Katherine Applegate is the # 1 New York Times–bestselling author of beloved and award-winning books for young readers, including Pocket Bear, Odder, Home of the Brave, Crenshaw, Wishtree, Willodeen, and The One and Only Ivan, for which she won the Newbery Medal. She is also the author of the Animorphs series; a beginning reader series, Doggo and Pupper, illustrated by Charlie Alder; and the picture book Odder: An Otter's Story, illustrated by Charles Santoso. Her middle-grade books, Dogtown and Mouse and His Dog, coauthored with Gennifer Choldenko, were also instant New York Times bestsellers. She joins us with the latest in the Dogtown series, I Am a Good Dog. Katherine Applegate lives in Nevada with her family.

Gennifer Choldenko’s best-known Tales from Alcatraz series has been called “a cornerstone series in contemporary children’s literature.” Al Capone Does My Shirts—the first book in the series—was a Newbery Honor Book and the recipient of twenty other awards. All four books in the series were Junior Library Guild selections and garnered many starred reviews. Her middle-grade books, Dogtown and Mouse and His Dog, coauthored with Katherine Applegate, were instant New York Times bestsellers. She joins us with the latest in the Dogtown series, I Am a Good Dog. Gennifer lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her loyal husband and naughty dog.