Now that Bo has his paws firmly planted in the White House, let the marketing begin!
A small Virginia publisher is racing out the first picture book for kids featuring the precious little Portie, with the pup on the cover in his colorful lei.
How’d they do it so fast? After all, Bo just made his official debut Tuesday.
“I would suggest that I’ve got some inside Washington information, but that wouldn’t be entirely truthful,” said the author, Naren Aryal, who is also the publisher and chief executive of Mascot Books in Herndon.
Aryal said Thursday he began writing a generic Portuguese water dog story about two months ago after the Obamas seemed to have their dog choices down to a Portie or a Labradoodle.
Bo himself was inserted last minute, and some fresh White House traditions such as first lady Michelle Obama’s new vegetable garden were incorporated to make the book more Obama specific. The illustrations are digital, speeding up the process to get “Bo, America’s Commander in Leash” out in less than a week.
Mascot Books already has 50,000 preorders, with a healthy first print run of about 100,000 planned, Aryal said. The book, aimed at kids ages 4-10, will retail for $14.95.
