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Blog Posts about The Rough Patch
I'm grateful to bloggers' posts and reviews of The Rough Patch. Below are selected lines from blogs— please click on the blog / blogger name to read the full post!
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
. . . It is perfect. The text is spare, powerful and moving. The acrylic, oil and colored pencil illustrations are absorbing. The reader rollicks and frolics along with Evan and his dog in a series of joyful spot art. Then, the unthinkable happens. Lies' use of white space here is extraordinary...
...I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
This is a picture book for any age. Anyone who has experienced loss will see himself or herself in Evan. Share widely and listen when your young readers share their own thoughts about The Rough Patch or their own rough patch. What an incredible gift this is. Buy it and share it. —Brenda Kahn
There is as much comfort between the covers of this book as I feel when wrapped in one of my heirloom family quilts.
Yes, on one level, THE ROUGH PATCH is a story of loss. But it is so much more than that. It explores and celebrates the amazing capacity and power of friendship and love. It reveals the depths and strengths of human emotions, the importance of living in the moment, and, yes, the circle of life.
...Throughout each page and stage, Lies uses his mastery of illustration to combine expressive features, shifting perspectives, light, shading, color, and detail to create scenes that beg to be examined closely while urging readers to turn the page and know the characters more deeply. Throughout it all I found myself walking hand-in-paw with Evan, wanting desperately to comfort him but knowing his was a journey to be traveled alone... —Sandy Brehl
. . . a deeply felt story of new hope and healing after loss, one that altogether avoids excessive sentimentality. The pacing is flawless, and the emotions are never forced. Lies's eloquently rendered illustrations play with light and shadow on full-bleed spreads that invite readers into Evan's grief and his eventual journey from sorrow to newfound happiness.
Understated yet powerful, The Rough Patch is a story that stays with you. —Julie Danielson, BookPage