Sara and her younger brothers all have their own ways of handling the increasing age and infirmity of their beloved dog, Toby.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
Kindergarten-Grade 3-An elderly golden retriever, once Sara's lively and beloved companion, is now listless, smelly, and going blind and deaf. Instead of sympathizing with Toby, as her younger brothers do, the 12-year-old girl angrily rejects him. The boys are appalled, even when their mother explains that Sara is upset because her life is changing so much and she doesn't want Toby to get old and die. Finally, when the dog is so weak that the vet recommends euthanasia the next day, Sara is found holding him lovingly during the night. The realistic watercolor illustrations are surrounded by large white areas that emphasize the skillful rendering of the figures. Toby romps through the happy times when the children are little and then moves stiffly into his old age, his expression bewildered and sorrowful. Both the animal and the humans are beautifully and expressively painted. Sara's rage, although understandable to a degree, is so jolting that the story is actually painful. Hans Wilhelm's I'll Always Love You (Crown, 1988) is also sad and touching, but is more gentle way of treating this subject.
Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 5-8. Now that the family dog, Toby, is 14, lethargic, and ailing, 12-year-old Sara seems unforgiving and intolerant of her old friend's infirmities. Younger brother Ben is furious over Sara's apparent callousness, but Mom understands: Sara is ambivalently approaching many changes--junior high, new friends, adulthood--and can't bear the awful void that Toby's eventual death will leave in her life. So Ben and his older brother, the story's narrator, play with Toby until the vet says it's "kindest to put him to sleep." "We'll do it tomorrow," Mom sadly concurs. Sara shouts, "Good," then storms upstairs; but during the night, when the two brothers go downstairs to be with Toby, there is Sara holding the companion she indeed still loves. Realistic watercolors beautifully capture the book's emotions--toddler Sara and puppy Toby's playful romps, Sara's "angry, sad eyes," Mom's anguished decision, the family's loving farewells. Compassionate toward a child's misgivings about growing up and the distress of watching a pet grow old, this is a genuinely touching illumination of a family's loss of a beloved friend. Ellen Mandel
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