Sure, there are plenty of picture books about kids who want a pet, but not so many about pets who want a kid. The parallel yearnings of two strangers--a girl and a dog--carry readers through Jump for Joy, beautifully conceived by Karen Gray Ruelle (Bark Park) and awe-strikingly illustrated by Hadley Hooper (The Iridescence of Birds).
A girl has a wish: "For as long as she could remember--and maybe longer--Joy had wanted a dog." Big, little, spotted, with curly fur--"It didn't matter./ She'd know her dog when she saw him." Meanwhile, a dog's wish is uncannily similar: "For as long as he could remember--and maybe longer--Jump had wanted a kid." Big, little, spotted, with curly hair--"It didn't matter./ He'd know his kid when he saw her." The simultaneous longings continue across four seasons until, quite by accident, Joy and Jump hear each other's voices. There's only one thing to do when they meet: "Joy jumped for joy and Jump jumped for Joy."
From the get-go, readers will know where Jump for Joy is headed--and that's the point: as with any love story (and that's what this book is), the pleasure resides in the thrill of the chase. Here, the thrill also resides in Hooper's outdoors-set collages, which incorporate found imagery dating as far back as the 18th century. Hooper gives Joy and Jump, both goldenrod-colored, largely black-and-white worlds until they finally find each other, and everything is suddenly in color-drenched bloom. --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author