I was an English major in college with an emphasis in literature, so I’ve never really been one to support banning books, but I may have found a book no longer welcome in my home.
It seemed innocent enough…
Today, Linnea asked me to read this book at naptime, one I had never seen or read before. It even started out with a child and a dog who grew up together. I have two beloved dogs, so I thought it would be a cute tale (or should I say tail?- sorry, bad pun). I should have known early on when it was mentioned that the dog grew faster than the child… but I kept going. I will leave out the devastating details, but will just say I had to pause to suck up some tears (and probably some snot) as I drew close to Elfie’s death. I didn’t think I would be able to continue after that. Fortunately, Linnea could not see my face as I read to her, but I had trouble getting the quivering out of my voice.
I guess this book was meant to prepare kids for the death of their dear Rover, Fido, or even Whiskers, and to emphasize telling them you love them while you have them, but I am not ready yet to accept that my two wonderful Australian shepherds will ever leave me in any way, let alone prepared to explain this to my grand niece. A warning on the cover of this book is all I would have needed, but NO, I was taken completely and vulnerably off guard!
I tucked in Linnea, went into the living room with my doggies and hugged and loved on them so much even they wanted me to stop after a while (that NEVER happens).
Just be warned, if you see this book, you should be prepared before reading aloud to any child (or even silently to yourself).
Ok, so it really is a nice book in many ways, but seriously, read it yourself first so you know what you’re in for. Yikes!
caverns of my mind 