Little Dog, Lost

Marion Dane Bauer’s recent book, a novel in verse, is one that all children will love. Little Dog, Lost is about Buddy…

“Little black dog with brown paws
and a brown mask
and a sweet ruffle of brown fur on her bum
just beneath her black whip of a tail.
Satiny coat.
Ears like airplane wings
that drop
just at the tips.”

Buddy once had a family. She had a boy, a mom, a dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles, too. But her family has to move to the city. Buddy is left with a strange woman who doesn't seem to know much about dogs. Buddy escapes the yard and leaves behind the only home she has left in order to find her boy.

Meanwhile, the reader meets another boy named Mark. Mark does not have a dad or brother or sister or even a cousin. Mark desperately wants a dog.  His mother is the mayor of the town.  She will not let Mark have a dog.

Readers also meet Charles Larue, a lonely man in an enormous house.

“So many stories hidden
in even the smallest town.
So many stories
waiting
to be revealed.”

And so, this is a story about longing. As Marion Dane Bauer writes,

"So much longing.
So many lives
filled
with longing.

It’s what stories---
all our stories---
are made of.”

FOUR PAWS up for this delightful read.  I know many readers who will like this book.  I always have readers looking for novels in verse, and this one is perfect.  I wonder if any of my students will recognize the alliteration, assonance, consonance, and repetition used in Little Dog, Lost.

I will be putting this book in the hands of as many readers as I can.  A perfect book to read alone or to read aloud.  

Happy Reading!
Mrs. T :)

P.S. Reading is like breathing chocolate air!
**Copy provided by Worch Library. Thank you!