This Old Dog
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
When so much of the world is new, you want to go slowly… to stop and enjoy everything; hills to roll down, perfect-sized rocks, trees that seem to whisper their thoughts. It’s the same when you're much, much older, and every time 'round the seasons seems precious. Yet the folks in the middle (we know who we are) are always rushing, rushing, rushing. Appointments to make, trains to catch, places to be, FAST.
That's what makes the bond between old dog and the little girl so special. From the time she takes her first steps, old dog finds someone – at last! – who wants to go at the same pace he does. To walk with everywhere, through this wide, wonderful world.
A love song to the bond between young and old, this book will make you want to sit right down and read to someone you care about.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The titular pooch, gray and shaggy with small, friendly eyes, has reached an advanced age: "Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Old dog's glad to see a new day," writes Brockenbrough (Bigfoot Wants a Little Brother). But life has changed a lot since the canine's people became parents: "The speed of life since the girl was born is fast fast fast, and old dog likes to take things slow." His preoccupied owners lead him on walks that don't accommodate his aches or his need to savor the day; he yearns for "a friend who looks at grass and sniffs and says, Let's roll in this." Alborozo (The Mouse and the Moon), working in fine-lined, warm-toned watercolor and ink, devotes an entire wordless spread to the dog standing in the garden alone, sad: "His heart thumps. His tail does not." Then the girl starts walking and everything changes: she becomes the dog's greatest devotee, and even loves rolling down a hill as much as he does. The authors can't turn back the years for their senior hero, but they achieve something almost as good: they leave readers believing that the best is yet to come. Ages 4 7.
