Published: 17th September 2019
Publisher: Schwartz & Wade
Illustrator: Guojing
Pages: 34
Format: Picture Book
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ – 5 Stars
In this wordless picture book a woman visits a park and discovers a pup hiding under a bench–scruffy, scared, and alone. With gentle coaxing, the woman tries to befriend the animal, but the dog is too scared to let her near. Day after day, the woman tries–and day after day, the dog runs away. With perseverance and patience–and help from an enticing tennis ball–a tentative friendship begins.
Why do I keep reading bittersweet books about abandoned dogs?! Honestly it is a real problem. Finding forever homes for little sad and lonely dogs breaks my heart but apparently I don’t mind always crying at the end of these books and getting emotional in the middle of these books and sad before I have even begun these books. And it turns out now I don’t even need text to do it.
This story is part of my new favourite type of picture book: one filled with stunning illustrations and no text whatsoever. The entire story is told in pictures and you do not need words to know what is happening. Whether this is to show the events from Stormy’s silent perspective or because Guojing’s illustrations have enough emotion and intent in them to make words redundant I’m not sure but it 100% works.
I cannot stress how divine these illustrations are. Guojing has done a brilliant job in showing emotion and scale, as well as the environment and how it reflects mood. Some pages are broken up into panels like a comic book which acts like stills from a movie so you can see the events, but others are stunning full pages . I was captivated as I “read” because as you study the images you know the story and can understand what is happening. Filled with the colours of nature and beautiful drawings I wanted to hang these pictures on my wall as well as become melancholic about them.
Of course there is a happily ever after because Guojing isn’t allowed to make us feel those emotions with no reward. But it is just another example of how beautiful storytelling not only can be wordless, but can be about real stories and full of heart.
You can purchase Stormy via the following
Wordery | Fishpond | Amazon | Amazon Aust
Lost in a Good Book 