Jackie Clark Mancuso

When my husband went on sabbatical in Paris in 2009, I took a leave from my job as a graphic designer. While exploring Paris, I spent many days on park benches in the Jardin du Luxembourg with a sketchbook and pencils, drawing dogs and people. I would later paint from the sketches at the kitchen table of our small apartment on Rue Vaneau. When our Swedish artist friend Weps came to visit I showed him what I had been up to, and he said you should make a book.

I started working on Paris-Chien: Adventures of an Expat Dog when we returned to San Francisco, and finished it after we moved to Los Angeles. The book was very well received. Kids —and adults —loved the spunky hero so I did two more books recounting his further adventures, Hudson in Provence and Hudson and the Puppy.

Now we live in France.