Thanks to Debra Merskin for her review of Hope Ferdowsian‘s children’s book The Adventures of Lucy Ghost and Sugar, below:
For anyone who has ever loved and lost a companion animal, the pain of their death goes straight to the bone. They have our hearts from the moment we meet until that agonizing time when we must let them go. But it isn’t goodbye — not if you’ve read Hope Ferdowsian’s beautiful, tender, true tale of her dear pups and what the transition from here to there just might be like (The Adventures of Lucy Ghost and Sugar).
Beloved Lucy visits Sugar, who doesn’t know where Lucy went — and isn’t that something so many of us wonder when we lose a pet? Do the others know? Should they witness the passing? Do they grieve? When Lucy tells Sugar, “My heart just couldn’t push my wiggles anymore,” and reveals that she is still with her, there’s no arguing with what that could mean, or how deeply it can help us — and them — get through it.
Every four-footed being I’ve been fortunate enough to call family has taken a part of me with them when they’ve gone, and they all go too soon. This heartfelt, heart-full, heartstring-pulling book is a must-read for all ages, but it will be especially powerful for children struggling to understand how a beloved friend can simply be gone — and how to begin processing what death means, given the uniquely close bonds children form with their animal companions. And even for children who aren’t yet reading on their own, the artwork alone, by Penny Weber, makes this a wonderful picture book. The illustrations convey what words cannot: a warmth, a glow, an aura that surrounds every character. These animals are not merely “pets” — they are, I firmly believe, something far greater. Our teachers.
Just as Sugar’s love has kept Lucy alive in every way but the physical, so it is with all those who have gone before us. They are there — as vivid in our mind’s eye, as present in our hearts, as ever. Sometimes inexplicably so. A “lost” toy that reappears long after they’ve left. A bit of fur that refuses to leave a sweatshirt or a sofa. Even if the pups of our childhood never met the dog who got us through college, or the one who pulled us back outside and into the world, what they all share is us. And because of the love we’ve felt for each of them, they are family, wherever they are.
Whenever I go through my basket of collars and name tags or hold the small tins of ashes, they are with me. We visit regularly. I talk to them, with them. I let them know they are not forgotten. And to know that those who are about to make that transition will be welcomed and guided by those who went before will comfort every child, every adult, who reads this remarkable book.
The adventure Lucy takes Sugar on — to meet Bessie Ghost and Bella Ghost — reminds us that all beings matter, that mothers love their babies, and that animals, unlike most humans, are rarely given any say when those babies are taken from them. But in the luminous world of the Ghost Crew, they are reunited, forever. Through this thread, parents and children can ease into gentle conversations about mothers and babies, and about how farmed animals such as cows and pigs, and wild animals like donkeys, chimpanzees, and turtles — love one another just as fiercely as we do. This is where the Big Secret is told (I won’t spoil it), but it opens something important: all beings, humans included, can help. The Ghost Crew, as animal narrators, show us that if we work together, the world can become a better place — not only on land, but in the oceans too.
I had to stop more than once while reading, absorbing the images through tears — but in the very best way. This book helps make sense of what otherwise can’t be, except in the harshest biological terms: the brief lives of our animal friends.
They are always here with us, and we are always there with them. When the day comes for my Weems to go, I know our whole family will be waiting for him — Pushkin the Pug, Kelly the Samoyed, Wicker and Luna the Shelties. And then there are the cats, but that’s a whole other story.
Midge Raymond is a co-founder of Ashland Creek Press. She is the author of the novels Floreana and My Last Continent, the award-winning short story collection Forgetting English, and, with John Yunker, the suspense novel Devils Island.