A 12-Year-Old in Cedar Falls Has Written a Book

Gideon Kidd of Cedar Falls has already accomplished more at 12-years-old than I have in my entire life!

Back in the spring of 2018, then 9-year-old Gideon (with the help of his mom) launched a Twitter account called 'I've Pet That Dog.' The account was created to document all of the dogs that Gideon has pet and show them off to the public. A 2018 article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette says that they originally started posting their photos on a website in 2016, but it wasn't until they took their efforts to Twitter that it started to gain serious popularity. In June of 2018, his account had around 99,000 followers.

Cut to today. The 'I've Pet That Dog' Twitter account now has around 384,000 followers, and Gideon has turned his love of dogs into his very own book! It's titled Pet That Dog! A Handbook for Making Four-Legged Friends and it was written by Gideon and his mom Rachel Braunigan and illustrated by Susann Hoffmann. It was officially released last month.

According to a new article from the Cedar Rapids Gazette, the book offers lots of tips for meeting and petting dogs, plus a whole bunch of other fun stuff for dog-lovers. The Amazon description reads: "Pet That Dog! A Handbook for Making Four-Legged Friends is an illustrated guide to meeting, petting, and caring for dogs by Gideon and his mom, Rachel Braunigan. Learn how dogs communicate through body language, helpful tips for safely interacting with dogs, and fun facts about dogs to share with friends. You can even keep track of the pups you meet with your very own Dog Tracker."

Gideon's book is currently available in paperback form for $14.99 on Amazon. It's $9.99 for the Kindle version. You can get more details on it HERE.   Despite the challenges that have come with the COVID-19 pandemic, Gideon has still found a way to feature dogs on his Twitter account! You can follow his page HERE.