Today the children and I lost our hearts to Perdu
A little lost and lonely dog
With nothing to call his own
Except a little red scarf
And no place to call home
Perdu follows a leaf tumbling in the wind
Hoping to find a place to belong
The little dog is sad when he loses his leaf to a stream
He heads into the city
Searching for safety
But the city does not feel safe
It is loud and fast
It is big and busy
Perdu feels more lost and alone than ever
All he wants is to find his place
His somewhere
People are mean in the city
Get out they shout
Go away they say
Poor Perdu hungry and sore
Curls up in the park
On the floor
He is lost and lonely and scared
And he has lost the one and only thing he had
His little red scarf
Poor Perdu
A scared little ball of worry
But someone has noticed Perdu
Someone has been watching and following the little lost dog
A little girl in a red bobble hat
She returns Perdu’s scarf
The little girl has kind eyes
As Perdu looks up into them
All at once
He knows he is safe
He knows that he belongs
He has found his place
His somewhere
His someone
This is such a gorgeous story
From the darkness and despair of loneliness
Overcoming adversity, obstacles and fear
Through the power of kindness
To the light and joy of friendship and belonging
We have loved getting to know Perdu today
Using some activity sheets from Peachtree Online
The children have learned how to draw their own Perdu
They each did a pencil sketch
Then a coloured picture of Perdu
And then had a go at putting Perdu in a scene
And showing his feelings through the position of his body
The drawing advice from Richard Jones
Together with the stunning illustrations in the story
Really inspired the children
And I am so proud of the artwork they produced
As they drew we talked a lot about how Perdu’s story
Can be linked to that of refugee families leaving their homes
Searching for safety and somewhere new to belong
A lovely book to use with young children to talk about Loneliness, homelessness, displacement and kindness
We are all head over heels in love with Perdu
