Can I be your dog?
I think your butcher shop
would be a great
place for a puppy like me.
I could keep the floor
nice and clean!"
Readers will feel great empathy for Arfy. He is a big dog, and he is lonely. He is also homeless. Though finding a forever home might prove impossible, Arfy is not one to be deterred by misfortune. Rather he is creative, and persistent.
He begins his letter-writing campaign with the people in the yellow house. Focusing on his many good points, he lets them know they are first on his list. Their reply is disheartening. Next, the letter carrier delivers a plea to the butcher shop, then the fire station, then the junkyard guy and finally the 'last house on Butternut Street' which is boarded up and dark. Desperate times call for desperate measures, it seems. That final letter is returned, as one would expect. Arfy retreats to his cardboard box in the rain. Lo and behold, the sunny morning light brings a hand delivered letter.
Help comes from the most surprising places.
Troy Cummings has his readers fall in love with Arfy at first sight ... eyes full of charm as he holds a plaintive plea in his mouth! Arfy's character is evident as he writes with panache, then accepts with sadness each refusal. The letters and responses vary and are humorous. Arfy's demeanor will encourage laughter and delight. The letter carrier takes her job seriously, obviously worrying about the big dog as she delivers his pleas for a home.
Don't miss the back endpapers that show a map of Arfy's neighborhood, and provide one last note from Arfy. In it he describes how readers can help homeless animals.
It's a hit!
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