"Love from Alfie McPoonst, the Best Dog Ever" by Dawn McNiff and Patricia Metola (Walker Books)

Wow, this one will definitely deliver a solid 'whump' to your heartstrings. It's never easy to deal with the subject of grief in picture books but in "Love from Alfie McPoonst, The Best Dog Ever" by Dawn McNiff and Patricia Metola, a gentle and sometimes humorous piece of storytelling delivers quite a lovely surprise by turning the subject on its head, offering perhaps a smidgeon of solace to little ones who may have suffered the loss of a beloved family pet.

Alfie is the narrator here, writing a letter from Doggy Heaven to his owner Izzy - who misses him like crazy, and is very sad.

"Dear Izzy, I’m a Sky Dog now. I live in Dog Heaven, because I died..."

Yeah, that line - that'll get to you if nothing else does...!

Alfie wants Izzy to know that he misses her of course, but also not to be sad because Doggy Heaven is absolutely BRILLIANT!  There are postmen to chase, angels to tickle his tummy, and he never even has to take a bath! 

Can Alfie's letters comfort Izzy, even just a tiny bit?

Sum this book up in a sentence: Beautifully and sensitively observed, not shying away from the subject of loss but hopefully helping kids to imagine their own family pets having a wonderful afterlife. 

"Love from Alfie McPoonst, the Best Dog Ever" by Dawn McNiff and Patricia Metola is out now, published by Walker Books (kindly supplied for review).