Missing!

Children enjoy books with happy endings and parents enjoy books that teach their children something. That is why I recommend the book "Missing" by Jonathan Langley. "Missing" is about a little girl named Daisy and her cat, Lupin. When Daisy has a day off of school, Lupin doesn't know and goes to meet her at the corner like every day. When Lupin realizeds that Daisy isn't at the corner and Daisy realizes that Lupin isn't at home, they begin a frantic search for one another. Along the way, each thinks about what could have possibly happened to the other. Langley's book is great for children. First, he shows how to deal with the fear or feeling that you have lost someone you love. He is able to do this by stating the actual thoughts of Daisy and Lupin--for example, he writes about Daisy thinking "He's never coming back...but I must do something special just in case he does come back." This book is also good for children because it shows them the idea of having different points of view. At the beginning of the book, the two characters have different points of view (when they were off doing other things) but later, their thoughts were almost the same. "Missing" is also special because of its illustrations. Langley was able to make his illustrations follow the storyline almost exactly. For example, at one point the story is about Lupin thinking if Daisy has gone on a trip or to a party, and the pictures were of Lupin thinking about a school bus and children standing around a cake. The pictures also fit moods well--when the two characters are happy, it's sunny; when they're sad, it's raining; when they're worried, it's grey. Children and their parents would both enjoy "Missing" because it is a different story. The way Langley shows point of view and feeling is very diverse to most picture books. Langley is a true artist of both writing and painting.