A stray pup wanders the streets, growling, prowling and scared, until an animal control officer finds him and takes him to a shelter.

There, he gets fed, groomed and perfumed, so he's ready to find a new home. As people come and go, the dog waits and waits and waits... until someone exclaims, “This pup!” A little girl knows he's the perfect dog for her. Told in rhyming text, this sweet story shows that even a down-on-his-luck pooch can find his forever home.

Praise for Deborah Kerbel:

?“This beautiful dedication to these special animals brings the reality and the irreversible finality of extinction to the forefront and calls on readers to act now, before so many other animals become endlings. Highly recommended for all collections.”—Booklist, starred review for The Late, Great Endlings

Key Selling Points

• A stray dog's story from wandering the streets to being taken in by an animal rescue center and finding his forever home, told in simple rhyming text.
• Readers will delight in seeing this dog's transformation from mangy and gruff to groomed and sweet-tempered, and take in the subtle lessons of not judging a book by its cover and that tough times don't last forever.
• Based on the idea of a "gotcha day," the anniversary of the day a pet is adopted into a family, this book encourages readers to "adopt, don't shop"—to consider shelter animals for their next pet, since these animals need homes and love just as much as dogs from breeders.
• Illustrator Udayana Lugo's vibrant style captures the amazing transformation of the pooch, showing his emotional arc and his external spruce-up, and brings out the joy of him finding his family.
• Award-winning author Deborah Kerbel's short, rhyming text makes for a fun, snappy read-aloud.
• Writer/illustrator duo Deborah Kerbel and Udayana Lugo previously teamed up to create the picture book No Huddles for Heloise.