Bling, a beautiful Irish Setter with a silky red coat, can’t help herself when she sees a fluffy tail hopping past the window she’s looking out of in Bling’s on the Trail of a Fluffy Puffy Tail by Dawn Secord. She eagerly runs out the door to see if the other animals had seen the fluffy tail of what she thinks belongs to a squirrel. She goes to Madame Butterfly, Armadillo, Speckled Frog, and even Spotted Horse, trying to collect any clues these animals might have seen while they were outside. Is she able to finally find out who the fluffy tail belongs to?
In The Little Blue Ewe by Dr. O. (Taylor Overbey), readers are introduced to a sweet little blue ewe named Bijou, who is not only blue in color, but blue because she truly misses her three lamb family members. Nothing she seems to do brings her out of her blue mood. She doesn’t want to play with the other farm animals; she isn’t interested in eating much, and all she wants to do is be by herself. Little by little, the other farm animals develop a plan to help cheer her up. They go out of their way to talk to her and be around her, so she doesn’t feel so alone anymore. Do all the farm animals’ hard work pay off? Does Bijou realize she has an extended family with the other animals?
The topic of grief is sensitive. At some point, we’ve all lost someone. As adults, it’s hard to even explain grief to ourselves. But for children, the task of understanding grief is more complex. In Mar Andersons’ PABLO, the conversation surrounding grief becomes a little less daunting. Mar Andersons, who has worked in film and television for decades and is currently producing an animated series, as well as continuing work on and off screen, found inspiration to write PABLO after the loss of his mother.
We meet a selfless dog, Pablo, and his amor, Arianna. Pablo is about to be a dad and decides he wants to get a gift before his family starts to grow. Pablo sets out on an adventure in his home of Cabo, Mexico, where he finds himself at a resort. Though he’s found the perfect gift, he also encounters evil twins. The parents of the twins think Pablo is a “stray,” drive him to the vet, and then he ends up on a plane to Seattle. Pablo has been dognapped!
