As the Internet went crazy with video shots of the two escaped llamas on the run, Dewdney was at the Guerrero Elementary School reading one of her books to children.
“My guess is that they heard about it, and they broke loose because they wanted to hear a story,” Dewdney said by phone this afternoon.
Perhaps no one has thought more about the appeal of llamas than Dewdney, who started publishing children’s books about 10 years ago. “I did my books about llamas because I love the sound to the word ‘llama.’ But they’re just so funny,” she says. “They have such wonderful expressive faces. They’re fuzzy and goofy, and they’re just fun to look at.”
She has met many llamas and has been kissed by many llamas, but alas, she didn’t own any llamas. “Because I travel so much,” she says. Right. She claims one of her three dogs looks a little like a llama. . . .
In another weird coincidence, Dewdney has recently finished the illustrations for her eighth llama book, “Llama Llama Gram and Grampa,” which will be published by Penguin Young Readers in Sept. Get this: It’s about a llama going away from home for the very first time.
Talk about art imitating llife!