CCBC Choices

2001

Children's Books of Distinction Finalist — Riverbank Review

2001

Parents' Choice Gold Award

2000

CCBC Choices

2001

Children's Books of Distinction Finalist — Riverbank Review

2001

Parents' Choice Gold Award

2000

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Honor Book

2000

New York Times 10 Best Illustrated Books

2000

New York Times Book Review

"Anyone who is interested in the rhythm of a picture book, who relishes the drama implicit in good drawing and appreciates the cinematic shifts in points of view that occur from one page to another, would do well to spend some time following the lone dog down his lonesome road, studying the many ways his wordless story moves and builds."

Maurice Sendak

"Astonishing drawings! Fierce, fleeting images that manage, despite their intense breathlessness, to meticulously tell a tale full of power and honesty. An entirely unique work of art."

Boston Globe, The

"Is A Day, A Dog a book for children? … The drawings, by Gabrielle Vincent, are nothing short of masterful. Only a truly great artist could render so much emotion, reaction, suggestion about one day in a dog's life. … Kids often can swallow harder truths than we know. They may do it in silence, they may not always be able to articulate what they understand —but there is a place for speechlessness, and for those who cannot speak for themselves, even in this noisy world."

New York Times Book Review

"Anyone who is interested in the rhythm of a picture book, who relishes the drama implicit in good drawing and appreciates the cinematic shifts in points of view that occur from one page to another, would do well to spend some time following the lone dog down his lonesome road, studying the many ways his wordless story moves and builds."

Maurice Sendak

"Astonishing drawings! Fierce, fleeting images that manage, despite their intense breathlessness, to meticulously tell a tale full of power and honesty. An entirely unique work of art."

Boston Globe, The

"Is A Day, A Dog a book for children? … The drawings, by Gabrielle Vincent, are nothing short of masterful. Only a truly great artist could render so much emotion, reaction, suggestion about one day in a dog's life. … Kids often can swallow harder truths than we know. They may do it in silence, they may not always be able to articulate what they understand —but there is a place for speechlessness, and for those who cannot speak for themselves, even in this noisy world."

Horn Book

"This extraordinary book holds meaning far beyond its eloquent message concerning the cruelty of abandoning pets....The power of these heartbreaking pictures is that they pull us into the experience; the art makes us see the need, and the anguish."

Publishers Weekly

"In remarkable gray-on-white sketches, Belgian author Vincent (the Ernest and Celestine series) conveys the pain and confusion of an abandoned dog. A keen observer, Vincent telegraphs a world of hard-hitting emotions; her tightly edited loose-lined compositions are no less than wrenching. ... [A] bleak, beautiful work." —

Riverbank Review

"This story-in-pictures ... wakes up the reader like a sudden fresh breeze in the face. It is a simple yet ambiguous story, a story that stretches one's capacity both to see and to feel.…Vincent's hand is sure, her lines swift and bold, capturing movement and suggesting emotion with striking precision."

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Kids accustomed to the panels of visual narrative in comics will take easily to this form of story telling and this satisfying not-so-shaggy dog story."

Today's Librarian

"The uniqueness of the book commands interest."

Amazon.com

"Gabrielle Vincent's poignant black-and-white drawings depict a series of adventures that lead a dog from abandonment at the side of the road to acceptance by a young boy who smiles and invites the dog into his world. The story, which begins on a bleak note, ends with the triumph of resourcefulness and love. A visual tribute to life's possibilities, it will be appreciated by readers of all ages."

Parents' Choice

"A Day, a Dog is a book that defies pigeonholing. It can neither be called a work for children nor one for adults. It is, instead, a powerful documentary in picture-book form for caring human beings of all ages anywhere on Planet Earth. It speaks with understated eloquence to our best instincts, without the benefit of —or need for — words. Gabrielle Vincent's remarkable black and white line drawings telegraph the heart-rending poignancy of her dog-hero's heedless abandonment by his human caretakers. Yet her illustrations never betray even a hint of the sentimental or maudlin. The pictorial narrative begins on a shockingly bleak note but ends as a triumph of pluck and the indomitable instinct for survival. This unique graphic paean to life's unexpected possibilities should not be missed."