Little Dog Lost! Perdu by Richard Jones

THE SKY WAS DARK, THE WIND HOWLED, AND SO DID PERDU.

A LITTLE LOST DOG, ALL ALONE, NOTHING TO CALL HIS OWN BUT AN OLD RED SCARF.

Someone had once loved little Perdu, lovingly tying a bright red scarf around his neck. But now the scarf is wet and so is he. A leaf blows by, seeming to know where it is going, so Perdu follows as it tumbles away. The rain ends and the sun rises, and Perdu finds himself on the outskirts of a city, where even the stream he has been following turns away from him. Just beginning to become busy, the city is filled with faceless figures rushing in all directions. Perdu seeks a familiar face, but finds none. Some see him, but only say "SHOO."

HIS LITTLE LEGS ACHED. HE HAD TO FIND SOMETHING TO EAT.

He slips into a restaurant and pulls at a tablecloth spread with delicious-smelling food, which suddenly generates a mob of people, all seeming to be running toward him!

HE COWERED. SCARED, HE GROWLED BACK.

Perdu runs away from the angry voices, losing even his red scarf. He curls up sadly, alone, in a little ball of misery in the park. And then he hears a gentle voice from a little girl who held... his scarf.

"IS THIS YOURS?" SHE ASKED SOFTLY.

She kneels and reties his red scarf. And Perdu knows he is lost and unloved no more, in Richard Jones' story of a little dog found, Perdu (Peachtree Publishing, 2020).

Jones' sweet and touching narration is paired with soft watercolor illustrations in which the little homeless dog is also symbolic of that loneliness in the crowd, the loss of belonging, which applies to people as well as animals. The rescue of little Perdu (whose name, not surprisingly, means "lost" in French) stands out among the world of lost dog stories out there, a beautifully-paced read aloud for young children.