Scout is a large black dog who has died in his bed at home. When the youngest boy asks question about what Scout’s life will be like now, his older sister and brother do their best to answer his questions. Heaven is a place in the clouds where Scout will be happy and taken care of.

This story is about the death of a beloved dog. It is written well and the illustrations are good. This is a good book to help families understand about a pet’s death. It can help talk about things can’t always fathom having to deal with it. I recommend reading it with your child to help the child understand the death of a pet. My only “negative” thought was the illustrations being rather dark at times..

Lovely in its simplicity.

— 3.5 stars —

It is raining the day Scout takes her last breath.

Little Brother peppers his family with questions: Where has Scout gone, if she’s no longer here? Does it rain above the clouds? Who will feed Scout? Will she have a sea to splash in and other animals to chase? They answer his questions as best they know how and, after burying Scout, coax him to sleep.

The next day, they wake to an impossibly sunny sky. (When you’re in the throes of grief, everything good and pure and beautiful seems a personal affront.)

…and the sound of Scout’s barking, coming from way up high.

SCOUT’S HEAVEN is a simple yet elegant book about loss and grief for dog lovers young and old. The whimsical illustrations nicely complement the story, which is more understated here than in similar books I’ve read. With books about “pet” loss, I measure stars in tears shed, and I didn’t bawl nearly as hard as I normally do. But maybe this is a good thing, especially when trying to explain death to kids.

The vague references to Heaven definitely give the book a religious bent, but as an atheist I appreciated it just the same. The message could easily be tweaked to fit with my own favorite imagery, that of the souls of the ghosts in HIS DARK MATERIALS breaking apart like so many champagne bubbles as they leave the land of the dead and join their daemons in the living world. Particles breaking apart and then coming back together to create new and wonderful creatures. Scout may be in the ground, but she’s everywhere else, too: in the air and sky, the sycamore tree that shades your bedroom window and the squirrel that calls it home. Listen closely, and you can hear her voice.

How not to do a book to help a child understand and overcome a pet's death… This one features a dog called Scout, which bizarrely is a female. The artwork – pastel and pencil shapes within and around the body of the dead animal – makes Scout look like a cat at times, but the book falls down on the script side too – the ending didn't convince me the family, with its peculiar taste in children's names as well as in pets' ones, hadn't scuppered themselves with nonsense about heaven. And how can they describe sounds then declare in the next line they never heard them? The whole thing was a little too odd, for both my tastes and I'm sure for those of a much younger reader.

A sweet story but not one we'd read to our children. Perhaps an opportunity to help children receive comfort after the death of a pet--but not exactly scriptural. However, five stars for illustrative technique. The bright colorful text against the black dog silhouette conveys the sad emotions of children mourning the loss of a beloved pet. However illustrations of floating dogs with angel wings and the "we don't know what's up there" line will leave Christian parents wondering whether this is a book they want their children to have.

Now, I have read many children’s books that dealt with the subject of death of a pet or a loved one, but I had never read a children’s book quite as unique as Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen’s book “Scout’s Heaven,” which I got from NetGalley!

SUMMARY

The story starts off with a family’s beloved dog Scout, dying and the family ends up burying him after his death. While the family mourned for the loss of their pet, Little Brother started asking questions about whether or not Scout is now in Heaven and is happy there. At first, the family was not sure how to answer Little Brother’s questions since they were all still grieving over Scout’s death, but then a strange and wonderous thing happens…

What wonderous thing happened to the family and will they be able to cope with Scout’s death?

Read this book to find out!

PROS

Wow! I must admit that I was quite impressed with how this book dealt with the subject of death in a children’s book and I think that it handled it pretty well! Both Bibi Dumon Tak and Annemarie van Haeringen did an excellent job at writing this book as this book is extremely emotional to read through as I sympathized with the family’s efforts to try to deal with the death of their pet. I also felt sympathy for Little Brother as he was constantly asking his family questions about Scout’s whereabouts after he died and I think that Little Brother’s reactions to Scout’s death is pretty realistic to how a young child would react to their pets or loved ones dying. They would be asking questions about the concept of death and would be wondering where their loved ones would go after their deaths.

CONS

The reason why I gave this book a four-star rating was because I felt that the story was a bit too short and I wished that they actually fleshed out the story a bit more so that way, we would be able to learn more about what Scout was like when he was still alive and what kind of activities the family did with him so that way, the news of Scout’s death would have had a more emotional impact on the readers. Also, apparently the copy I got from NetGalley did not have the artwork that was supposed to go with this story and even though I still liked the story, I would have liked it better if I had received a copy that had the artwork contained in it.

OVERALL

Overall, “Scout’s Heaven” is a lovely book about learning how to deal with the death of a pet and this is definitely a book that would be enjoyable to children both young and old! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the theme of death might upset some smaller children.

I don't usually like books like this, however this was OK. Learning about animals, pets, loss and understanding is key to grow a compassionate adult.
Scout's heaven is a lovely, if wrenching, read. I was surprised that I enjoyed a book about something I mostly find tragic, it has comforting qualities.

Dealing with death is often a hard thing to discuss with a child. Their understanding and experience doesn't prepare them for it. Titles like these are useful by crafting a way to discuss the concept of death that is comforting or at least not scary to those left behind. There is a whimsical quality to the illustrations, both the heavenly background art (raining cats and dogs, animals to chase, pups playing in clouds) and the shadow dog that persists throughout the book displaying a range of activity from playful to growling to sleeping. Little Brother asks questions that are difficult to answer about what Scout could be experiencing. The family supports him in coming to terms with the idea that Scout is both here and there in Heaven, but they are honest in admitting that they just don't know what Scout's heavenly experience looks like. This is definitely a good title to add to the library collection to help grieving families. It would make a thoughtful gift for a family experiencing loss as well.

Absolutely adorable and interesting way of teaching young children about death.

Oh, these books are so very hard for me to read, even as an adult, and yet they are so important, as losing a beloved pet is often the first real experience a child has with death. The gold standard, for me, has always been the wonderful DOG HEAVEN by Cynthia Rylant and I've often given it as a gift to families suffering from such a loss, but I also admire SCOUT'S HEAVEN very much - it has a European sensibility about it, in that we DON'T know what happens after death, and we aren't going to pretend, even to Little Brother, that we have all the answers. The very simple illustrations fit incredibly well with both the subject matter and the prose and I absolutely recommend this book, alongside DOG HEAVEN for two differing, but important perspectives on the loss of a beloved friend - and all that we hope comes after.