A young girl heads to the park. She sits a bench seat to read her newspaper when she spies a small shaggy dog. He looks across at the girl but seems reluctant or perhaps too scared to come close. As night falls the little dog huddles under the same bench seat. The next day the girl arrives again but this time she brings a small ball. She tries to tempt the pup to share a game but again the little dog won't come close.
The next day, with a lot of patience and persistence, the girl finally entices the pup to play with the ball. At the end of the day the girl heads home. She does not look back but we can see our little intrepid pup is following behind. He sits patiently outside her building. It begins to rain and the rain is very heavy. There is thunder and lightning. The pup is forced to shelter under a discarded cardboard box. These scenes reminded me of Mutt Dog.
The young girl is worried about the welfare of her friend out in this wild story so she heads back to the park but the little dog is actually just outside her house. When she returns home the pair are finally reunited. She gently carries the pup inside, his fur is dried, and she gives him his own dish of food. You can almost hear the slurping. This lucky pup has found a "forever home".
There is a huge treat waiting for you under the dust jacket of Stormy but I suggest you might like to wait until you have read the story. (If you don't have the book you can see the reveal here). The end papers also have the potential for a rich discussion with a group of young readers. The use of colour here moves the beginning from the wild storm and all the feelings of cold, despair, loneliness and sadness felt by the little dog while the final sky has a warm fluffy cloud reflecting the newly washed and dried coat of the little lost pup.
Here is the another book by GuoJing:
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