MY OLD PAL, OSCAR
Written by: Amy Hest
Illustrated by: Amy Bates
Published by: Abrams Books for young readers, New York 2016
Ages: 4 – 7 Years
Theme: Friendship, Loss, Grief, New beginnings
Opening Lines: Hello, you. Who are you? No tags? No name? You sure are little. Except for those feet. Those four big feet making footprints in the sand.
Synopsis: When a boy meets a stray puppy on the beach, he does not want to make a new friend. He still misses his old pal, Oscar, a beloved pet. When the cute little black and white puppy shadows him resisting the boy’s gentle rejections it begins to rain. The boy begins to open his heart to a new friend and makes peace with the past.
Why I like this: Oh my this is all heart. Tears welled up when reading this story. Simply told with a cute relatable voice this will be a story many will remember. Even though he tries to ignore the little puppy the boy is forced to cradle it during a rain storm and races to home and safety where he shares a picture of his beloved pet, Oscar. Who could resist this cute puppy with the adorable face. He looks so fuzzy and cuddly. Mischievous too! Amy Bates illustrations are cleverly done revealing life at the beach at a child’s eye level. This would be a lovely book for home and in the classroom encouraging discussions when looking at adding a pet in the family especially after the recent loss of a much loved pet.
Resources/Findings: This is a great little video of Amy Hest giving some writing tips on Characters….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gWkLr2oduk
Great tips from Amy for young writers…. https://www.amyhest.com/for-writers
Fun facts about Amy and more… https://www.amyhest.com/about
How to help your child with the loss of their pet…. https://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/02/helping-your-child-grieve-the-loss-of-a-pet.aspx
I’m always pleased to be able to bring you some more special books that have come my way and be able to share them with you and join other great writers over at Susanna’s Blog, where there are literally hundreds of book reviews to view. So pop over and visit the lovely author, Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog and find the tab for Perfect Picture Books. Her blog is full of resources links and activities associated with books reviewed by many authors
Writer and Dreamer at work 
Sounds very moving (but not too sad either). The illustration style looks right up my alley, too. Will definitely be looking for My Old Pal, Oscar. Thanks for the recommendation, Diane!
Your welcome Claudine. Hope you find it.
I have always loved books with dogs in them and now that I have my own dog, I even love them more!! There is a puppy in Amanda in Holland, my next book.
Hi Darlene. I thought you might like this one since you have a dog. I love small dogs especially. Oooh can’t wait to see your next instalment of Amanda.
Almost missed your review of such a wonderful story many children will be able to relate to. You have to really love that cover!
Hi Pat. Yes I was a bit late this week. I loved the cover too. Couldn’t resist picking it up from the library. 🙂
What a sweet story, and so true to how we have to heal our hurts in order to open our hearts again. Beautiful!
It truly is. Glad you liked the review. Hoping you have a great weekend.
I do hope I can find this one id it touched you so much! That face!
He does have such a cute face, Julie. Hope you find it.