ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — Growing up on a dairy farm in the small town of West Fork, Arkansas, David Sargent, Jr. . was used to having dogs to play with and that’s what gave him the inspiration to start writing children’s books about his furry friends.

Making his home in Prairie Grove, Arkansas, Sargent paid a visit to Robertsdale Elementary School on Tuesday morning to share his books and dogs Emma, Tatum, Daphne and Spike with the students.

With 400 books under his belt published by Ozark Publishing in Prairie Grove, Sargent has been writing for 14 years but didn’t start out that way.

He attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville studying Architecture and then took furniture and home design classes in both Alabama and Oklahoma. His passion then turned to writing children’s books and visiting schools with the dogs he was writing about. To date, Sargent has visited around 4,000 schools across the county.

Publishing several series including Saddle Up, Animal Pride and Feather Tales, Sargent’s books focus on the crazy antics and adventures his dogs find themselves in with such titles as “Buffy’s Revenge”, Guard Dog Mary”, “Portia’s Prank”, “Emma’s Law” and “Vicious Vera”.

The students were captivated by all the tricks the dogs could do and by the storytelling skill of Sargent by the time the assembly was over.

Paperback ($7) and hardback ($15) versions of Sargent’s books are available to order through the school and online. All 12 books in the series are available for $60, three books for $20, four for $25 and five for $30.

The first five books of Sargent’s new series, “Best Friend” are available and can be mixed and matched with other book series as well. Also available are bookmarks, author photo and various styles of posters all for a dollar each.

For more information, visit ozarkpublishing.us or call RES at (251) 947-4003