WHITE FUR FLYING by Patricia MacLachlan March 2013 Margaret McElderry Books Some authors have a gift with words. They can use the sparest number of syllables and deliver the most poignant stories that reach inside you and resonate with those vulnerable places we all hold safely inside. Patricia MacLachlan is one of those authors. She can find my guarded, sensitive places with unerring accuracy. This book keeps her streak alive.
In this family, Great Pyrenees dogs are beloved and adopted with great frequency. These are the great big white fluffy fur-flying breed of dog. Two sisters, Zoe and Alice, share the dogs and the chores with their mother, savior of dogs, and their father, the veterinarian. Alice likes to tell stories with really mean characters, and when the two girls catch sight of new neighbors moving in next door, they imagine what story is moving in along with the couches and dish packs.
Truth proving stranger than fiction the story of this new family is at first glance odd. The mother seems cold and difficult. The boy looks trapped. When Zoe, Alice and their mother extend an invitation, they learn that the boy, Phillip, does not speak. What has happened here? Can this family that extends its heart and its care to enormous white, rejected dogs have what it takes to save a boy?
This is a story of loss.... oh dear...yes, loss... and being found... of friendship... of caring about each other and understanding... and trying to understand... and judging and being wrong...and everyone has a story...yes tissues required. For those Joan of Arcs and Seeker/Leaders (see Which Reading Superhero Are You on abookandahug) out there this is manna from heaven. Captain Underpants lovers need not apply.
Ages 7-10 108 pages 978-1442461161
Recommended by: Barb
