Publishers Weekly
10/14/2019
In this follow-up to The Invisible String, heavy-hearted Zack can’t stop thinking about his dog, Jojo, who has just died. His parents try to offer comfort but only frustrate Zack, who struggles to process his feelings. When he confides his sorrow in his friend Emily, she blithely relays “the very best news ever”: “When our pets aren’t here anymore, an Invisible Leash connects our hearts to each other. Forever.” Irritated, Zack retorts, “I only believe in things I see.” After a day of Emily’s evangelizing, Zack feels Jojo’s presence under the gaze of a full moon. Karst’s gentle narrative guides the friends through their shared experience, and Lew-Vriethoff’s digitally rendered, loose-feeling illustrations expertly depict the wide range of emotions therein. An opaque Jojo is depicted in each spread, a constant participant. An empathy-driven resource for children reckoning with the loss of a pet. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)
School Library Journal
12/01/2019
K-Gr 2—This companion to the best-selling The Invisible String addresses coping with a death of a pet. Zack, an elementary school kid, deeply mourns the loss of his dog Jojo, whose ghostly form is pictured on nearly every page. Though his parents and his friend Emily try to cheer him up, Zack is angry and inconsolable. When Emily finds out why Zack is sad, she tells him that she grieved her cat Rexie but felt better when she learned there are invisible leashes connecting the departed pets' hearts "in the beyond" to their owners. Rexie also appears as a ghostly feline, connected to Emily with a red leash. Dubious, Zack questions Emily as to how her cat could have a leash, but she expounds at great length that all pets, not just dogs, have invisible leashes and that seeing is not believing. Ultimately convinced, Zack goes to sleep happy, feeling connected to his departed dog. Lew-Vriethoff's cartoon illustrations lighten the dark mood with bright colors while still conveying the heartfelt emotions of the protagonist. Unfortunately, their impact is lessened by the verbose text that tends to overexplain otherwise well-intentioned ideas. VERDICT This title will likely appeal to the pet-owning fans of The Invisible String and will find a place in collections in need of pet loss books.—Yelena Voysey, formerly at Pickering Educational Library, Boston University
Kirkus Reviews
2019-08-26
This book aims to help young children cope with the loss of a pet.
Zack's dog, Jojo, aged, fell sick, and died; this weekend will be Zack's first without him. Despite his parents' best efforts to make Zack feel better—they buy him a cupcake and promise to adopt a new dog soon—he is sad and angry. The stages of grief are clearly written and illustrated throughout the book, with ghost Jojo appearing on most pages to watch over Zack, who is clearly in pain. When his friend Emily, whose cat died recently, sees him crying, she tells him that the pets aren't actually gone forever because there is an "Invisible Leash" that connects their hearts after the pets go to the place "beyond." Zack is understandably skeptical, but Emily insists that just because he can't see the Leash doesn't mean it isn't there, and if he tries, he will be able to feel it. Emily does her best to convince Zack, and here the writing gets repetitive, until he finally believes and is able to sleep knowing Jojo is always with him. Zack is biracial—his dad is black and his mom is white—and Emily appears white. This is the author and illustrator's The Invisible String (2018) for pets, so readers will not find anything new here. Still, some pet parents might find this helpful for grieving children.
Repetitive—but a potential resource. (Picture book. 3-6)
