"In this swiftly paced adventure inspired by Rear Window , active, overachieving, Ivy Crowden breaks her leg on the last day of fourth grade. Stuck in a full leg cast until August, Ivy must cancel her summer plans. "Think of this experience as an adventure. Capture the wisdom with paper and pen," her doctor advises. These lessons close every chapter ("What I learned from that: It's important to feel empowered so you don't feel like a victim"), paired with boldly outlined b&w illustrations by Krampien that amplify atmosphere. Now mostly stuck at home, Ivy sits in front of her window, noticing mysterious events on her cul-de-sac-- including spying her classmate, Melvin Moss, who disappeared before they started their Trojan War report. When a neighbor is robbed, Ivy and her best friend and neighbor Teddy Samuelson, along with Ivy's rescue sheepdog, set out to solve the case, help an agoraphobic neighbor, and rescue a pet. Klise's diction captures age-appropriate cadence while drawing sympathetic characters in this multi-mystery novel.
" -- Publishers Weekly Praise for Stay: A Girl, A Dog, A Bucket List 2018 ALSC/ALA Notable Children's Book An Iowa Public Radio Best Book of 2017 " Who says bucket lists are just for humans? Not the Klise sisters, who gracefully trace a girl's growing awareness of her dog's impending death. Evocative acrylics amplify the matter-of-fact narrative, showing Astrid growing taller and more active as Eli slows down.The Klises close with an image of girl and dog watching the sunset over the water, a moment that--like the book as a whole--is both emotionally restrained and full of feeling. " -- Publishers Weekly, starred review "Quirky and delightful on its surface, this poignant picture book opens the door to deeper considerations of eventual loss. A tender tension between the author's ebullient text and her illustrator sister's touching acrylic paintings--particularly the exquisite portrayals of the two protagonists--delicately suggests the inevitable without any overt occurrence. The framed photos on the living-room walls and the apparent subject matter of the pair's library books (they're all about dogs) communicate even more about the special relationship between a child and a dog, and the precious value of taking care of the ones you love." -- The Horn Book, starred review "The full-page, warm, pastel-colored illustrations perfectly match the text and make the book all the more wonderful. This is a story about making the best of and appreciating the (brief) time we have with our loved ones --in this case our pets, though the title easily applies to grandparents and other aging loved ones.
A sweet and moving selection about the bond between a girl and her aging dog that avoids veering into sappy or maudlin territory. Spoiler alert: the dog does NOT die in the end (THANK YOU!)." -- School Library Journal.