The Longest Letsgoboy by Derick Wilder (review)

In Joycean narration, an old dog describes a glorious woodsy outing with his “Little,” wherein “I am an awwwpuppy again . . . runjumping and tailchasing, yipyapping constantly at branchjumpers, leglifting endlessly on tallsticks.” At the end of the long, happily eventful day, the pooch curls up for the last time, knowing Little “will be okay, and I am ready.” Then he’s looking down on Little and “her pack of twopaws,” watching the seasons go by until spring, when Little emerges from the house on a letsgoboy with a bouncy new awwwpuppy; she looks up at the sky and “gives me a happyface. I wigglewag. She is my foreverfriend.” This is a perfect storm of tearjerk, with its supple poetry, canine narration, and picture of loss, but there’s a reassuring message about what we love remaining a part of us forever that youngsters may find nearly as bolstering as the possibility of a new puppy. Chien’s mixed-media illustrations incorporate scratchy, childlike strokes in colored-pencil textures; while there’s still plenty of energy in the portraiture, the gentle haze tactfully distances the events, and an emphasis on sunny tones keeps the mood upbeat even amid the sadness. This will be a spiritual complement to the more concrete take on pet succession of Hest’s My Old Pal, Oscar (BCCB 6/16).