When you see a cute cover like Missing You has you might think you are getting one thing. A cute story about….Something cute. If it was going to be “heavier” as the word missing implies, I assumed maybe it was about a friend who moved away, or a friend/family member who lives a long way off, or even something a bit more serious like a grandparent who passed away but not overly “intense” or “deep” to read about. I did not expect to have Phellip Willian’s story about a family grieving the loss of a parent, the gain of a deer “pet” who would put Bambi’s trauma to shame and some funky older people.
I did not expect a story of deep loss, grief and healing. I did not expect to see hunting scenes that are not “graphic” but were intense and darker. While respectively done, it does lean towards an anti-hunting mentality. I did not expect to have multiple story arcs happening at once that are parallel but have a “backwards” order pattern. What we see first did not happen first, but actually is at the end of the deer’s story arc. We follow a father and his son and daughter. They are dealing with the loss of the mother (by death or she left them is not explored, but left open to interpretation. However, it does feel like a death). We see how the children find a wounded deer, and how they care for it until it is time for the next chapter of not just the deer’s story, but theirs. There is also an old woman that also seems to find another lost deer, but the connection is closer.
Due to the translation by Fabio Ramos, sometimes things were not as smooth as I would have liked with the text. However, it was one of the stronger translations I have read and for the most part, I never noticed any bumps that would throw any reader off. But what I did notice was the lovely illustrations of Melissa Garabeli. The artwork really makes the story. It probably would not be as emotional if it was not for the soft colors, minimalistic, but fleshed out details. They are sweet for the most part. When there is a scene where the hunters are after the young deer, this is an intense part and is reflected in the illustrations. However, they still are not gratuitous. The artwork allows for both a classical feel to things (old school, old world) and yet is modern and able to keep today’s readers attention.
Overall, this is a decent book that is part graphic novel, part novel and older picture book, but is in a larger, square shape book. It works for many ages, but as mentioned there are sensitive topics so know your reader.