[ 책 소개 ]

* 2011 School Library Journal’s Best Picture Books of the Year
* 2011 Horn Book’s Best Picture Books of the Year
* Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens


My Friend Rabbit과 Time Flies로 두차례 Caldecott 상을 수상한 Eric Rohmann의 색다르면서도 감동적인 내용의 그림책입니다.

거스는 애완견 엘라와 오랜 세월을 함께 지냈습니다. 둘은 가장 가까운 친구이자 가족이었습니다. 하지만 애완견 엘라는 너무 나이가 들어서 이제 더 이상 거스와 함께 지낼 수 없게 되었습니다. 밝은 보름달 아래서 애완견 엘라는 거스에게 절대로 깨지지 않을 굳은 약속을 합니다. 무슨 일이 있어도 언제나 거스와 함께 할 것이라고...

그리고 엘라는 저 세상으로 떠났습니다. 엘라가 죽고 난 후 거스는 삶의 의욕을 잃었습니다만, 그냥 지금까지 해오듯이 하루하루를 지냈습니다. 할로윈에도 거스는 그냥 해마다 해왔듯이 해골이 그려진 옷을 입고 집집마다 돌아 다니면서 Trick-or-treating을 하면서 사탕과 과자를 얻었습니다. 해가 지고 집으로 돌아오는 길에 거스는 공동묘지 옆을 지나다가 무덤에서 기어나온 한 무리의 해골들을 만나게 됩니다. 거스가 해골 복장을 입었기 때문에 무덤에서 기어나온 해골들은 거스를 자기들과 같은 해골인 줄 알고 함께 춤추며 놀려고 합니다. 하지만 거스가 해골 가면을 벗은 후, 자신은 해골이 아니라 사람이라고 말하자, 해골들은 거스를 공격하려고 덤벼들었습니다. 그때 어디선가 역시 뼈만 남은 애완견 엘라가 달려와서 거스를 구해주려고 하자, 다른 해골들은 낄낄거리며 비웃었습니다. 그때 애완견 엘라가 하늘을 향해 짓는 시늉을 하자, 거스는 엘라를 따라서 큰 소리로 개 울음 소리를 냈습니다. 이 소리를 듣고 동네 개들이 모두 달려 오고...

개들은 원래 뼈를 좋아하지요. 개들이 달려오자 해골들은 혼비백산해서 도망을 가네요. 둘만 남게 되자 엘라는 거스에게 보름달 아래서 다시 다짐을 합니다. 도름달 아래서 한 약속은 절대로 깨지지 않는다고...

어린 독자들에게 죽음의 의미를 이해하도록 도와주고, 죽어서까지 변치 않는 소년과 개의 우정, 그리고 개의 충직함이 독자들에게 잔잔한 감동을 주는책입니다.

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What is 하드커버? 양장본이라고도 불리우며, 표지가 단단한 판지로 만들어진 책입니다. 판지를 천이나 가죽으로 감싸기도 합니다. 책의 속지는 일반적으로 중성처리된 종이(Acid-free paper)를 사용해서 잘 변질이 되지 않기 때문에 오랫동안 보관하기에 적합합니다. 이 종류의 책은 더스트 재킷, 또는 더스트 커버로 불리는 표지덮개가 함께 있는 경우가 많습니다. 간혹 내부 속지가 콩기름 코팅이 된 경우 고약한 냄새가 나는 책도 있습니다.

하드커버책입니다.






[ 관련 동영상 보기 ]

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[ 서지 정보 ]

Hardcover: 32 pages
ISBN-10: 1596431504
ISBN-13: 978-1596431508
책 크기: 21.8 cm x 24.2 cm



[ 영문 서평 ]

Book Description
Ghost dogs and skeletons in a tall tale with a tender heart from the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of My Friend Rabbit.
Gus doesn't feel like doing much after his dog Ella dies. He doesn't really even feel like dressing up for Halloween. But when Gus runs into a bunch of rowdy skeletons, it's Ella--his very own Bone dog--who comes to his aid, and together they put those skeletons in their place. A book about friendship, loss, and a delightfully spooky Halloween.


Publishers Weekly
Caldecott Medalist Rohmann's (My Friend Rabbit) friendly figures and soft, autumnal colors give this spooky story an overlay of tranquility. Ella is Gus's dog, but she's aging: "I'm an old dog," she tells him, "and I won't be around much longer." Yet she promises to stay near him always, and "a promise made under a full moon cannot be broken." After she dies, Gus, dressed as a skeleton for Halloween, is threatened by a half-dozen ghoulish graveyard skeletons: "A boy!" "And he's alive!" "And you know what that means?" "Bone appétit!!" Ella, now just a dog skeleton, shows up just in time to rescue him. It's an offbeat mixture of humor and sadness: in an arresting image, Gus looks incredibly alone as he stands in the middle of an empty graveyard, clutching his Halloween candy; the skeletons' scariness is tempered by their kooky poses and glib lines. Yet more than the skeletons, it's Gus's grief that's vanquished. Some may find the sight of Ella as a skeleton off-putting; others will find comfort in the idea that a dog's loyalty transcends death.


Kirkus Reviews *Starred Review*
Caldecott Medalist Rohmann employs a similar artistic style to his award-winning My Friend Rabbit's as he depicts a young boy's journey through grief by way of a spooky graveyard on Halloween.
Beloved dog Ella tells Gus under a full moon, "I'm an old dog and won't be around much longer. But no matter what happens, I'll always be with you." Once Ella is gone, Gus mopes. On Halloween he reluctantly goes trick-or-treating, costumed as a skeleton. Heading back home he cuts through the graveyard. Here Rohmann's hues darken, and Gus looks small and utterly alone. In a quietly dramatic page-turn, Gus is suddenly surrounded by a group of skeletons. Their goofy behavior and wisecracking taunts turn sinister, and soon they close in. The ghost of Ella comes to the rescue, yet she alone cannot save him. "Together will all their might..., boy and dog howled into the night." A pack of dogs arrives to vanquish the bony bullies in an offstage battle readers see only in hilarious denouement. Gus and Ella cuddle once again. He asks, "Will I see you again?" Ella answers, "A promise made under a full moon cannot be broken." Here the image of ghostly Ella and skeleton-clad Gus echoes the earlier picture of the two.
Sometimes scary, often funny and ultimately heartwarming, Rohmann's tale successfully balances a tight text full of tough emotions with clear images of an everlasting friendship.


School Library Journal
Employing the printmaking techniques that earned him a Caldecott Award for My Friend Rabbit (Roaring Brook, 2002), Rohmann continues to mine the depths of friendship, this time between a boy and his dog. Readers first encounter Gus and Ella frolicking with a pack of dogs; then they are framed against a low-hanging moon having a heart-to-heart. Ella explains that due to her age she "won't be around much longer. But…I'll always be with you." Furthermore, "A promise made under a full moon cannot be broken." The dog's death occurs offstage; ensuing panels depict the protagonist's dispirited movements during daily activities, his heart heavy with loss. An encounter on Halloween night forces Gus to grapple with his new reality. Walking through a graveyard in his skeleton costume, he is surrounded by the real deal. Just as things are looking grim, a skeletal Ella and a pack of flesh-and-blood canines save the day. As in Rabbit, black borders contain the action and create a cinematic distance. The green landscape and horizon line disappear in the climactic scenes, with the action playing out against a deep blue sky or a moonlit white background, furthering the sense of a movie in motion. Rohmann's bony wordplay lightens the tension, and a controlled palette provides a calming continuity, as does a conclusion that mirrors the beginning (with the exception of some ecstatic dogs trotting home with new bones). Sad, spooky, and comforting by turns, this deceptively simple approach to the loss of a pet quickens and gladdens the heart


The New York Times Book Review
Genuine goose bumps arise from this moving story…At once heartbreaking and heartwarming…