Homer by Elisha Cooper (Greenwillow, 2012) celebrates the peace that comes from the familiar, from home, by focusing on a dog who stays on his porch all day. Other dogs want Homer to come race with them, the children invite him to race on the beach with them, but Homer stays where he is and watches.
It’s a quiet book where not much happens in the illustrations: most of the watercolor-and-pencil pictures feature Homer resting on the porch, watching his loved ones. But Homer lets one reflect on what makes one happy, and sometimes sitting and watching the ones we love is enough.
My 5yo didn’t get that far. His thoughts: “I didn’t like it because Homer didn’t do anything. He kept saying, ‘No.’”
