The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Dumon Tak, Bibi

Scout's Heaven

32 pp. | Eerdmans | April, 2018 | Trade ISBN 978-0-8028-5500-8 $15.00

(4) K-3 Translated by Laura Watkinson. Illustrated by Annemarie van Haeringen. Through first-person-plural narration translated from the Dutch, two siblings discuss the death of their dog, Scout, and field their younger brother's questions about what comes next for their deceased pet ("Can she run across the clouds?"). The children largely go unseen--the text is printed on Scout's silhouette, which is set against different solid-color backgrounds--limiting an otherwise affecting meditation.

Reviewer: Nell Beram