MY DOG AND I

Just your typical lost pet tale, with a significant twist.

One day a bespectacled child finds a bear in the park. Or, as the young narrator puts it, “I’ve always wanted a dog. And then one day…I found one.” Convinced that the creature is a rather large canine, the youngster builds him a home and finds him to be a delightful companion, fond of games and dress-up. The protagonist puts up Lost Dog signs, but no one claims him. Better still, bullies leave the child alone, and even the dark has lost its more frightening qualities. Unfortunately, one day the “dog” runs away, and the child must come to terms with this loss. The book then proceeds to give readers not one but two endings. The child finds a lost “kitty” (with a significant mane), and the “dog” and his new family return. This second ending feels superfluous in what is otherwise a charmer of a book, its warm predator/prey relationship much in the same vein as Judith Kerr’s The Tiger Who Came to Tea (1968). Sala, serving both as artist and translator for this tale originally written in Italian by Tortolini, drenches the book in jewel tones that exude a singular comfort. The protagonist is brown-skinned; other characters are diverse.

A furry friendship certain to be the envy of young readers everywhere.