Friday, December 4, 2009
Olathe junior Hannah Kincaid was about 16 years old when her father, Greg, began constructing the story that would become the novel, “A Dog Named Christmas.”
“He’s been telling the stories bit-by-bit for the past five to six years on Christmas,” said Hannah.
Hannah said it was her mother who urged her father to put the story on paper.
“A Dog Named Christmas” was published last year, and with its success has come a Hallmark film and a canine adoption program for the holidays.
The story is about a mentally-challenged boy named Todd and a dog, Christmas, he and his parents adopt over the holiday. Greg said the basic conflict of the story was whether Todd could deal with the returning the dog he was inevitably going to fall in love with once the adoption period was over. Throughout the story, Todd tries to get the rest of the community to adopt a dog over the holidays, too. In the end, town members rally around the boy and his mission and learn a valuable lesson: to care and love those in need.
Greg, a 1982 law graduate from the University, said the crux of the story came from the inner dialogue between a mentally-challenged son and his father.
Inspired by the novel, a program was created so animal shelters could allow pet adoptions for the holiday season. Hannah has been involved in the efforts to enlist animal shelters across the country. She said 600 shelters around the country have adopted the program.
According to Petfinder.com, 19 shelters in Kansas have adopted the program. The Lawrence Humane Society is excluded from that list.
Hannah said the idea behind the adoption program is to let the family make a connection with the dog and not want to return it when the adoption period ends.
“It’s kind of like extending the love and hospitality of Christmas to animals as well,“ Hannah said.
The movie version is in the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie series and stars Bruce Greenwood. It aired Nov. 29 on CBS. The DVD was released the next day.
Ellen Jasa, communications manager for Hallmark Hall of Fame, said that last Christmas, members in the office read the book and wanted to make the movie by this Christmas. She said the ratings showed 12.5 million viewers.
“The response was incredible from the viewers,” Jasa said.
She said the office continued to receive e-mails about the movie. She said the responses on the Facebook page and Twitter were positive.
Hannah said a sequel to the book would be coming out next year.
— Edited by Lauren Cunningham
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