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Summary
Summary
When Harry's beloved dog Hopper dies, he has a hard time letting go, as Harry sees Hopper still in his life. Are Hopper's visits to Harry the boy's imagination, or is the dog truly leaving Harry gradually, once he makes sure his boy will be all right? Eyes will not stay dry as readers experience this beautifully written, gently illustrated story about losing a dear pet.
Author Notes
Margaret Wild was born in South Africa and moved to Australia in 1972. She has been a journalist on newspapers and magazines, and worked as a book editor in children's publishing for sixteen years. She eventually quit to write fulltime.
Wild has written more than 40 books for children. Some titles include The House of Narcissus, Jenny Angel, Tom Goes to Kindergarten, Nighty Night!, The Pocket Dogs and The Very Best of Friends.
Her books are published around the world and have won numerous awards, including the Young Australian Best Book Award (YABBA) - Picture Book Shortlisted in 2001 for Jenny Angel; the New South Wales State Literary Award - Young Reader Shortlisted in 2000 for Jenny Angel; the CBC Book of the Year - Picture Book Winner in 2000 for Jenny Angel; the Young Australian Best Book Award (YABBA) - Picture Book listed in 2000 for Miss Lily's Fabulous Pink Feather Boa; the Australian Publishers Association - Design Shortlisted in 1999 for Jenny Angel; the Family Award for Children's Books - Picture Book shortlisted in 1999 for Jenny Angel; the Young Australian Best Book Award (YABBA) - Picture Book Shortlisted in 1999 for Miss Lily's Fabulous Pink Feather Boa; and the CBC Book of the Year - Picture Book Shortlisted in 1985 for There's a Sea in My Bedroom. In 2015 she had an Honour Book at the 2015 Children's Book Council (CBCA) Book of the Year Awards with her title, The Stone Lion. (Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Redheaded Harry and his spotted dog, Hopper, are constant companions, accomplices ("As Hopper grew older... Harry helped him run away from his weekly bath"), and bedmates. The dog's sudden death (an accident that happens while Harry is at school), leaves the boy devastated; refusing to join his father at Hopper's backyard funeral, Harry "stared at the [TV] screen but the words and pictures didn't make sense, and he couldn't follow what was going on." But gradually, Harry finds that Hopper lives on his heart, and in the final, wordless scene, rendered from a vantage point far above the backyard, readers see Harry visiting his beloved pet's grave. Wild's (Puffling) understated, empathic prose offers both a voice for a child unable to articulate his grief and the reassurance that those we love never really disappear. Blackwood's (Ivy Loves to Give) predominantly charcoal drawings are equally eloquent, particularly in her use of texture to capture the emotional essence of good and sad times. These days, her gift for portraying children navigating the turbulence of life feels especially necessary. Up to age 5. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Harry and his dog Hopper are playmates and co-conspirators; true friends. When Hopper is killed in an accident, Harry shuts down, staring at the TV, refusing his dad's invitation to say goodbye before Hopper is buried. Unable to face sleeping in his own bed alone, Harry camps out on the couch, 'longing for the feel of Hopper, the smell of Hopper, the bark of Hopper.' His longing is so strong it brings Hopper back for a series of middle-of-the-night visits. Each night, however, Hopper becomes a little less solid, a little weaker. Finally, when Hopper is 'as wispy as winter fog, as cold as winter air,' Harry is able, lovingly, to let him go. Wild (The Very Best of Friends, rev. 5/90; Let the Celebrations Begin!) is no stranger to challenging picture book topics, and here she both evokes unflinchingly and treats respectfully the emotions of a grieving child. Blackwood's scrawly mixed-media illustrations capture the strength of the bond between dog and boy as well as the isolation and disorientation Harry experiences at Hopper's death. The same scribbled charcoal line that conveys Hopper's exuberance as a puppy also shows his edges blurring and fading when Harry is finally able to say goodbye. The book ends, poignantly but not sappily, with an aerial view of Harry's yard in which he can be seen visiting Hopper's grave. MARTHA V. PARRAVANO (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Winner of the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration in 2010, this bittersweet Australian import about a boy and his dog brings diffuse tenderness and a touch of magic realism to a tale of love and loss. Harry meets Hopper the hound on the title page, and for a few spreads, the two are inseparable. Then Hopper is killed in an accident, and Harry is devastated. That night, Hopper appears at the window, solid and warm, and the two relive their time together, playing, wrestling, and cuddling. Hopper returns, night after night, ever fading in substance, until Harry is ready to say good-bye. Wild's unflinching narrative sensitive and straightforward and spare evokes the quiet, ceaseless throb of absence. Blackwood's sketchy paintings, though muted in tone and somber in substance, wriggle with life, even when that life is only a dream. With careful use of composition and perspective, Blackwood often places the protagonists on the outskirts of the page, positions that echo the story's themes of loneliness and connection. When so many picture books about grief aim squarely at bibliotherapy, Harry & Hopper reaches past the platitudes, sharing something essential about sadness and healing.--Barthelmess, Thom Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
Tearjerkers are a fixture in the dog book genre, but they are perhaps less prevalent in the kiddie division, which makes this enormously affecting Australian import so distinctive. While not the book parents would want to present alongside the new family puppy. "Harry & Hopper," the slory of a boy who loses his beloved dog, will provide literary comfort to any child mourning a pet of his own. Softly colored charcoal drawings add tenderness to this empathetic, bittersweet tale. WOOF MEOW TWEET-TWEET Written and illustrated hy Cécile Boyer. 48 pp. Seven Footer Kids. $15.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) A high-concept portrait of the contrasting lifestyles of dog, cat and bird, "Woof Meow Tweet-Tweet" never once depicts the animals described within. Instead, each is portrayed by its "animal sound," whose letters are stretched, bent and amplified "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom"-style to reflect the animal's movements and manner. Translated from the original French, the story is simple, but with animal noises added, young children will appreciate it read aloud. CHARLIE THE RANCH DOG By Ree Drummond. Illustrated by Diane deGroat. 40 pp. HarperCollins. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) The one-woman blogging enterprise known as the Pioneer Woman, whose Web site tracks her path from city gal to ranch wife, has written her first children's book, a day in the life of her basset hound, Charlie. Described from Charlie's languorous perspective, ranch living is a round of hard labor, from sniffing the porch steps to supervising the activities of his peppier companion, Susie. DeGroat appealingly illustrates the bucolic setting, and Charlie agreeably channels his owner's down-homey twang. PUSSYCAT, PUSSYCAT, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? By Dan Bar-el. Illustrated by Rae Maté. 32 pp. Simply Read Books. $16.95. (Picture book: ages 4 to 8) Unbeknownst to many Mother Goose readers, a number of classic rhymes continue way past their well-known opening stanzas ("Old Mother Hubbard" is a particularly fine example), but here, Bar-el creates his own extension of the initial London rendezvous in "Pussycat, Pussycat." Traveling onward to Paris and Australia and over the midnight seas, the pussycat adventures through imaginative Chagall-style acrylic paintings. "Pussycat, Pussycat, will you stay home? / I always get restless, I always will roam." Take that, lazy cats. MEET THE DOGS OF BEDLAM FARM, by Jon Katz. Illustrated. 32 pp. Holt. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Another blog, another book: Kalz, the author of popular dog books for adults ("A Dog Year") makes a foray into children's books with an introduction to his four dogs. Rose herds sheep, Izzy visits sick people and Frieda guards the farm. But what, the book repeatedly asks, does Lenore do? Katz's photographs depicting the dogs' vastly different personalities are great fun for dog lovers and a fine lesson for dog fearers. Lenore, it turns out, makes sure everyone is happy. "Thanks to Lenore, the dogs are a family." GRACIE THE LIGHTHOUSE CAT, written and illustrated by Ruth Brown. 32 pp. Andersen Press USA. $16.95. (Picture book; ages 4 to 9) This true story of a double rescue in 1838, in which Grace Darling, a lighthouse keeper's daughter, alerts her father to a storm-struck ship at the same time the lighthouse cat, Gracie, discovers one of her kittens is missing, is illustrated with lush, expressive paintings. From the cat's-eye view, the human drama, in which 13 people were saved, is relegated to backdrop. A historical note about Darling, a heroine in Victorian England, appears on the endpaper. PAMELA PAUL
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A poignant depiction of grief at the loss of a beloved pet is relayed in this quietly moving story. Young Harry and his father adopt an energetic, bouncy black-and-white puppy that Harry appropriately names Hopper. The two develop a strong relationship, helping each other out and even sharing Harry's bed. One day, the boy's father breaks the news to Harry that his dog has been killed in an accident, but the child can't accept that reality. He also can't say good-bye to Hopper before he's buried in the yard and he can't stay in his lonely bed, choosing instead to sleep on the living-room couch. At school, Harry keeps to himself and doesn't tell anyone about what happened. How he comes to terms with his grief is touching and will resonate with children as well as adults who have experienced such a loss. Blackwood's laser print with watercolor, gouache, and charcoal illustrations adeptly show the exuberance of the close friendship and the sadness when it ends. A range of perspectives, varying sizes of pictures, and the change in color palette, from bright to muted back to bright, communicate the story visually, and the understated text conveys the emotions realistically. An affecting combination of pictures and words.-Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A young boy's journey of grief. Harry's new puppy can't stop hopping all around him, giving the boy inspiration for his name. Hopper and Harry are soon inseparable; the black-and-white pooch even sleeps on Harry's bed (at first at the foot, before hecreeps up to the head). One day, Harry comes home from school to the bad news that Hopper has been killed in an accident. Harry never even had a chance to say goodbye. He wanders around in a daze, can't sleep and doesn't tell his friends at school what's happened. In the middle of the night, Hopper magically appears at his window. Overjoyed, Harry stays up all that night and the next playing with Hopper. The third night, Harry waits, but Hopper doesn't return. At midnight, Harry sees a shadow of Hopper, "as wispy as winter fog"it's his chance to say goodbye. Blackwood's beautiful illustrationslaser print with watercolor, gouache and charcoaladd an appropriate layer of melancholy toWild's clean, economical prose. Tasteful, affecting and never maudlin.(Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
