This week: The Rough Patch by Brian Lies

The Rough Patch is on my great loves list. I first read it around the time it won a Caldecott Honor, and I come back to it a lot - especially for the paintings, but also as a reminder of the emotional depth and range found in the best picture books.

This is a picture book about the relationship between grief and time. It’s also about resilience. The central characters are a fox named Evan, and Evan’s beloved dog. Evan’s dog is a fellow gardener and life companion in everything good. Lies illustrates the connection between Evan and his dog exquisitely - they meet each other’s gazes, they really see each other. In the first third of the book, there are masterfully painted vignettes, spots and full spreads of the two of them going through the world together. That world feels electric and joyful and full of potential at every time of day, in every season.

Until “the unthinkable”…

There’s something inaccessible to imagination and without words about losing a pet. It’s “unthinkable” in spite of all you might know intellectually about the lifespan of a pet in relation to your own life. The death of a pet is like a void. Evan’s dog dies, and Evan carries on in that void for a period of time. Without revealing too much of this utterly gorgeous, must-be-experienced book,time is gloriously depicted in slow subtle transitions of light from one spread to another, and growth happens seemingly in defiance of real darkness. Resilience.

Painting in acrylic, oils and colored pencils from The Rough Patch by Brian Lies, image from www.brianlies.com/