One rainy evening, a girl gazing out her apartment window notices a bedraggled dog wading through puddles in the city streets below. She runs downstairs, scoops up the pup and brings it inside. The girl already has all the accessories needed to welcome the stray: dog food, a bowl, a bed, a leash.... As the girl takes care of the stray, readers will understand that she is mourning the loss of another dog, Prudence, who is obviously much-loved and has gone missing (according to the poster tacked up on her wall). The new dog wins the girl over completely and they spend some wonderful moments together. Then the girl sees a "LOST" poster outside a pet store and realizes that this new dog (Roscoe) has an owner searching for it. In a heartbreaking climax, the girl chooses to do the right thing, reuniting Roscoe and owner. Yet, even as she despondently walks away, there is a third dog--in a shelter window--that may well be the perfect fit.
Larry Day uses color smartly and sparingly in this wordless picture book, highlighting key story elements with sunshine yellows, bold reds or glum blues. In a nice design touch, the title page doesn't appear until a few spreads in, when the girl carries the wet dog upstairs, emphasizing how it has been "Found." Endpapers also reinforce the themes of Found, with an abandoned dog basket under the girl's bed in the beginning that is replaced by a glimpse of the newly adopted shelter pup at the end. Found expertly conveys the waves of emotion experienced by one compassionate, nameless girl who retains the ability to open her heart again and yet again. --Lynn Becker, blogger and host of Book Talk, a monthly online discussion of children's books for SCBWI