Lucy by Randy Cecil

Here is a book with a difference. It has 144 pages so you might think it would take a little while to read - wrong! It is a story in four acts so you might think there will be a complex plot - wrong! Will you love this book with it's black and white illustrations looking a little like a silent movie. Yes you will!  Open this book. What do you see? Every page has a spotlight style illustration and only one or two or perhaps three lines of text. I have added Junior Fiction, Easy chapter book and Picture Book as tags for this book as it is all of those things and so much more.

Image source with a link to the All the Winders podcast: https://twitter.com/nickpattonillo/status/759078646384627713

There are three characters in this story. Lucy, a stray dog who has memories of a special toy. Eleanor, a lonely girl who longs for a dog, and Lucy's dad who is a skilled juggler but he suffers from terrible stage fright. Each of his evening performances at the Palace Theater end in disaster. Lucy lives alone on the streets of Bloomville. She is a little like Mutt Dog by Stephen Michael King. When she wakes up each morning Lucy sets off to the home of Eleanor who ties a piece of her breakfast sausage on a string and hangs it from her first floor window for Lucy. Each day Eleanor's father practices his juggling and packs objects to take to the theater that evening even though he fails every time. I loved the idea of juggling snow globes. Over the four acts the daily routine of each character is repeated but with slight shifts and of course the street scenes change too. I found myself flipping back and forward comparing each scene. In the final act the lives of these characters come together providing a perfect happy ending.

It is wonderful to find a book that is so different. You will probably think of Hugo Cabret and other books by Brian Selznick when you see this book. This is a five star book - it needs to be added to every Primary school library.

How did I find this book? I was reading a School Library journal post by Elizabeth Bird - one day I hope to meet her!  She was discussing easy books for children aged 6+ and highlighted some new titles to look out for. I added heaps of titles to my 'to read' list and then I spied Douglas by Randy Cecil. The cover just jumped out at me. It is due out in September this year. In her description of Douglas, Betsy mentioned Lucy and when I visited a library this week Lucy had just arrived. How splendid!

Here is a very interesting interview with Randy Cecil where he talks about his original ideas for this story and the processes of planning the text.  I also made the discovery that we had some books illustrated by Randy Cecil in my school library - Gator, Duck and One is a Snail, Ten is a Crab. Lucy is a title on our NSW Premier's Reading Challenge where the review says it's  "a truly original, book for dog (and underdog) lovers of all ages." You should also listen to an interview with Randy on All the Wonders. The publisher site has a full list of review quotes. Read about other books by Randy here at Seven Impossible Things.


Children ready to move beyond early readers will appreciate the pace of the page turns and the chance to discover visual details that characters miss. Kirkus Star Review