The blurb (from Goodreads):
Lara had always wished she was a dog, and one day, just for a short time, she actually became one. This is how it happened.
In a mulberry brick house on the harbour that Lara explores while her mother cleans, Lara meets Pierre, a boy about her age with a beautiful antique puppet theatre. With his puppets, he tells her a story about a boy whose family has been eaten by wolves. The boy is lost. He needs to find his grandmother. Lara takes the part of a dog, but suddenly she can no longer tell where she ends and Dog begins. Or is she Wolf? Caught up in Pierre's story, Lara has to fight to protect her identity - and her new friend. Can she help Pierre find his way home?
Pierre's Not There is a lyrical, captivating and imaginative story that can be read on many levels.
My Thoughts:
Pierre’s Not There is the latest children’s book by the Australian Children’s Laureate, Ursula Dubosarsky. It’s a delightful magical fable with subtle undercurrents of darker themes - a girl turns into a wolf to save a boy who is trapped in a sorrowful past. The story has some beautiful fairy tale elements to it, as well as a magical puppet theatre, and is the kind of book I would have happily devoured as an eight-year-old. Beautifully written as always, with lovely illustrations by Christopher Nielson.
You might also like to read my review of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty:
https://kateforsyth.com.au/what-katie-read/vintage-post-the-extremely-inconvenient-adventures-of-bronte-mettlestone-by-jaclyn-moriarty
