UNDER A LEMONADE SKY

A youngster mourns the death of a beloved dog in Messina’s rhyming picture book.

On the opening pages, a gray background surrounds a young child who misses a recently deceased pet—but on the following two-page spread, Pavliuk’s illustrations are effectively filled with bright, joyful colors: The dog woke up under the titular lemonade sky, where a lilac moon hangs and shooting stars have rainbow tails. Each bright page is filled with things dogs love, including running through fields of flowers, eating human foods that magically grow on trees, and playing with other canines. Interspersed with these bold pages, the sad child on a gray background repeated the refrain, “Oh, if only I could see you this way. / Then I might not feel so empty today.” As years go on, the grief becomes easier to manage, until one day, the pet’s now-elderly owner reunites with the dog under a lemonade sky. Messina’s poetry shifts from present to past tense at times, which may confuse newly independent readers. However, the scansion holds strong throughout, and the rhyme choices ably support the changing tone. Pavliuk’s color choices make the scenes of life and afterlife distinct, and they aptly reflect the emotions of the human and animal characters.

A vividly illustrated tale that will appeal to children who’ve lost pets.