The Poet's Dog - Heartwarming Storybook for Kids & Adults | Perfect for Bedtime Reading & Family Storytime

It was in searching for the customary Christmas gift of “something to read” that I came across The Poet’s Dog. I was hunting based on arbitrary criteria: can be read by a seven-year-old, of interest to a seven-year-old, and will be appreciated by the adult who must go along for the bedtime-story ride. Not only was the criteria met, but I think that MacLachlan’s book exceeded both the expectations of the seven-year-old and the adult.The Poet’s Dog begins in the midst of a snowstorm when a large Irish wolfhound named Teddy finds two lost children. Teddy is also lost, as his owner’s whereabouts are unknown, but he brings the children – Nickel and Flora – to the safety of a small cabin he shares with his owner, Sylvan. Sylvan is a poet, which imparts on him the ability to speak with Teddy. Children, apparently by the nature of their innocent acceptance, also share this ability, and so Teddy tells Nickel and Flora of the life he shared with Sylvan as they all ride out the storm together, waiting to be discovered and saved.MacLachlan’s writing is both uncomplicated and beautiful in its simplicity, which appeals to young and older readers alike. She also brings the sometimes-overlooked genre of poetry to the doorstep of the reader and invites us in to Sylvan’s humble life amongst words and nature. Within her gentle prose, she captures the special bond between children and animals that is often suspected but can never truly be confirmed. What child hasn’t sought the safety and comfort of a beloved animal to unburden his or her little soul? There are some practical details to the novel that an adult reader can get hung up with – mainly why is Teddy left to his own devices in a cabin in the middle of the woods when he has a human guardian? And why is Sylvan’s decline so sudden and yet at the same time anticipated? But the youthful reader will be unperturbed by such questions and focus intently on the slowly unraveled wintertime destiny that brings Teddy to Nickel and Flora.