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Summary
Summary
Don't miss Barbara O'Connor's other middle-grade work--like Wish; How to Steal a Dog; Greetings from Nowhere; Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia; The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester; and more!
From Barbara O'Connor, the New York Times-bestselling author of Wish, comes a big-hearted story about the meaning of friendship, the challenges of growing up, and one lovable runaway dog.
Mavis Jeeter is fearless and bold, but she has never lived in one place long enough to have a real best friend. Her flighty mother has uprooted them again to another new home and taken a job as a housekeeper for the Tully family. Mavis wants this home to be permanent--which means finding herself a best friend.
Rose Tully is a worrier who feels like she doesn't quite fit in with the other girls in her neighborhood. Her closest friend is Mr. Duffy, but he hasn't been himself since his dog died. Rose may have to break a few of her mother's many rules to help Mr. Duffy--and find someone who really understands her.
Henry has run away from home, but he craves kindness and comfort--and doesn't know where to look for them.
When Mavis and Rose hatch a scheme to find Mr. Duffy a new dog, their lives and Henry's intersect--and they all come to find friendship in places they never expected.
Author Notes
Barbara O'Connor was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. She has written many award-winning books for children, including Wish , How to Steal a Dog , and The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester .
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Featuring sympathetic characters and a gratifying resolution, this novel by O'Connor (Wish) celebrates friendship human and canine alike. Fourth-grade graduate Mavis is tired of moving from one town to the next, following her mother's every whim, but they're on the road again, headed from Hadley, Ga., to Landry, Ala., where her mother will be housekeeper for the "rich" Tully family. Mavis's one hope is that they will stay in Landry long enough for her to find a real best friend, and her wish comes true quicker than she expects when she meets Mrs. Tully's daughter, Rose. Although the girls are complete opposites (Mavis is impulsive and daring; Rose is fearful and keen to follow rules), they have a common goal: finding a new hound for kind Mr. Duffy, who has been sad since his dog, Queenie, passed away. Meanwhile, Henry, a runaway greyhound hiding in the woods, is looking for a new owner. Told in alternating perspectives by Mavis, Rose, and Henry, the book highlights the girls' differences and the positive impact the friends make on each other's lives. Ages 8-12. Agent: Barbara Markowitz, Barbara Markowitz Literary Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Mavis Jeeters peripatetic single mother moves from job to job and state to state, thus denying Mavis the thing she wants most: a best friend. When the two arrive in Landry, Alabama, where her mother will work as a housekeeper for the Tully family, the first person Mavis meets is the daughter, ten-year-old Rose Tully. Mavis introduces herself with: Im Mavis. You be my best friend, okay? Rose, also lonely and a near-?prisoner to her mothers judgmental and hoity-toity disposition, agrees immediately. Of course, it takes more than a few words to establish a friendship, and neither girl is adept at the process. What they have in common, though, is a desire to help Mr. Duffy, a guard at Roses gated community, overcome the loneliness brought on by the death of his dog, Queenie. The two girls find a replacement for Queenie, but convincing Mr. Duffy that he wants another dog is an entirely different matter. What distinguishes this novel is its depth of characterization, how OConnor shows readers who the characters are rather than telling them. Small moments, such as Rose silently enduring her mothers constant criticism or Mavis boldly entering the Tully household without permission, reveal much. This heartwarming novel also demonstrates that while dogs may be revered as mans best friend, theres no substitute for the human kind. betty carter (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When her unreliable mom is hired to cook and clean for a wealthy Alabama family, Mavis is hopeful they'll stay long enough for her to have a best friend.The Tullys' daughter, Rose, is just Mavis' age, and things looks promising, but the timid girl has been so browbeaten by her overbearing, haughty mother that she's forgotten how to have fun. Mavis may be poor, but she has spirit enough for both of them. Rose spends most of her time with the elderly gatekeeper of Magnolia Estates, but ever since Mr. Duffy's dog died he's been slipping up at work, and Rose's mother is anxious to have him fired. Mavis and Rose hatch a scheme to unite him with a stray dog they call Henry, who's actually an escapee from Wonderland, a dog track, and who may be euthanized since his racing days are over. O'Connor, a master storyteller, presents this moving tale from the alternating viewpoints of the girls and Henry, using their unique narrative voices to craft an affecting story of loneliness and the redemptive powers of the human (and dog) spirit. The racial identities of Mr. Duffy and Mavis are kept deliberately vague (although she is pale-skinned on the cover, just like Rose), but it's very clear that they are the underclass, evocatively contrasted against Mrs. Tully's mistaken sense of superiority that even Rose learns to fight.A richly satisfying exploration of the logic and determination with which children work to make things right. (Fiction 10-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
