I Heard Your Dog Died

What do you say to a child whose dog, their best friend, is fatally injured by a car as the youngster watches? Confronted with this dilemma, a caring neighbor reaches into distant memories to recall a story of life and death imagined as a Big Play. Together the pair explores questions about why bad things happen, feelings of blame and guilt, ghost dogs and animal souls. As anger shifts to acceptance, the youngster learns how to let go of hurt, honor the old dog, and imagine a future with a new pet. But neither neighbor imagines the surprising end of this journey through grief.

With magical zentangle-style dog illustrations by Carole Ohl, the story unfolds through dialogue alone. Author Bonnie Kreitler leaves the genders and descriptive details of the child and the adult to her readers' imaginations, inviting them to participate in creating the storyline in ways that reflect their own experiences of living, loving, and dying.

Dettagli