When Molly Drew Dogs

by Deborah Kerbel, Lis Xu (Illustrator)

Overview

On the night before the first day of school, a pack of stray dogs moves into Molly’s head. They are friendly, but a bit wild. They scamper through her thoughts, yap at the door to her dreams, and scratch at her brain, begging to be let out. So Molly starts to draw them.



When Molly draws dogs, she feels better—but not everyone can see the value of her strange habit. Her teacher tells her to focus. A special tutor urges her to concentrate. But Molly can’t erase the dogs, even if she wants to. As her anxiety peaks, Molly runs away. Once she is found, safe and sound, people around Molly realize the protective power of her pack and how the dogs help tame her troubled feelings.



Inspired by the Japanese folktale, "The Boy Who Drew Cats," this story celebrates the healing powers of art and imagination while touching on important issues of anxiety, mental health, and ways to cope with emotions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771473385
Publisher:	Owlkids Books
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.25(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

DEBORAH KERBEL is the author of ten books for young adult, middle grade, and primary readers. She lives and writes in Thornhill, Ontario, with her husband, their two book-loving teens, and a rescue schnoodle named Freddie.



LIS XU is a Chinese-Canadian artist whose main tools are ballpoint pens, pencil crayons and watercolours. She loves creating art that reminds her of the warmth of a hug. A debut picture book illustrator, Lis lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a compelling book about anxiety and the ways we can cope, heal and ultimately persevere, through creating art."

Mighty Village

"Deborah Kerbel's text is astute but profound... Lis Xu's illustrations, soft and understated in pencil crayon, give Molly's story a delicate texture that reminds us that this is a child's world."

CanLit for Little Canadians

"[Deborah] Kerbel offers poetic and prescient insight into mental wellness, without a whiff of didacticism."

Quill & Quire - STARRED REVIEW

"This may provide little ones and their adults an opportunity to discuss positive coping skills, including how artistic self-expression—paired with adult encouragement and understanding—can help manage fears and engage with the outside world."

Booklist

"This may provide little ones and their adults an opportunity to discuss positive coping skills, including how artistic self-expression—paired with adult encouragement and understanding—can help manage fears and engage with the outside world."

Booklist

10/18/2019

Gr 1–3-In a story loosely based on the Japanese folktale "The Boy Who Drew Cats," a pack of wild dogs moves into young Molly Akita's head. Unable to focus at home or school, Molly begins drawing her dogs everywhere. Everyone tries to get Molly to concentrate and be more serious. Frustrated, she runs away and becomes lost. Frightened and alone, she draws her dogs for comfort, and, in return, they come alive and protect her in the night. Xu's illustrations are fuzzy and indistinct, with a dark palette that suits the mood. Molly's anxiety manifests itself through her art, but other than her teacher finally allowing Molly to share her dogs, no other growth is evident. Older readers may feel let down by the lack of a fully fleshed out story. What caused the pack of dogs to move into Molly's head? Where is the evidence that everyone searched for Molly when she gets lost? Everything but Molly drawing her dogs happens off the page. Is Molly able to focus and work now that she is able to share her art? Understanding by the teacher doesn't balance out the mostly static characters and bare-bones storytelling. VERDICT A serviceable but not essential book about valuing differences.-Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA

School Library Journal

2019-06-16
Imaginations run quite literally wild for a young girl.

A measured, soft voice narrates, "On the night before the first day of school, a pack of stray dogs moved into Molly Akita's head. / They were friendly. But a bit wild." Molly finds the only way to manage her emotions, manifested as the rowdy pups that swirl around her room, is to draw them. Quickly the pack of canines run beyond her sketchbook onto moving boxes at home as well as onto the chalkboard and work at school. Her teacher, Ms. Shepherd, gets impatient, "but Molly's dogs were stubborn. They needed to run free." After receiving a teacher's note, Molly's grandmother hires a tutor, but he too declares, "No dogs allowed!" Grasping for control and acceptance, Molly runs, trailed by her sketched dogs and getting lost in the rain, and takes shelter in a shed. Pulling out her chalk, she draws coats for her companions. They in turn protect and comfort her when she grows fearful. Molly is Japanese, as denoted by her surname and dark hair and eyes. Xu uses darkly hued colored pencils that bring a textured somber tone to the story. In a twist, when Ms. Shepherd finds Molly, she tells her a robber was scared off in the area by coat-wearing dogs. With this validation, Kerbel deftly crafts a gentle argument for more empathy for others and yourself.

An artful plea for emotional acceptance. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews

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