When Rosie Walks George

George is a brown-and-white spotted hound who, Hest (Sometimes It’s Nice to Be Alone) writes in observational prose, is “old and deaf in one ear, and he doesn’t run fast anymore.” Gently tinted digital illustrations by Yoo (Kitten and the Night Watchman) show George dozing in a wingback chair as the children of his family call to him through an open window. On the walks that George still needs, the dog moves at the speed of the family’s youngest child, Rosie, who “lags behind, rolling her ball near the sea.” Though he is told to “hustle up, hurry,” George does not. He watches things (“the birds in the sky and the shells in the sand”) and “keeps an eye on Rosie.” In a series of moving spreads, it’s George who sits vigil all night long at the water’s edge when Rosie’s ball washes out to sea, and George who returns it to her the next morning. In this tender day-to-day portrait about caretaking across every stage of life, the creators follow George as carefully and lovingly as he watches Rosie. Human characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages up to 7. (May)