Laura, 11, called 911 after she couldn’t wake her parents. Now she’s staying with her Titi Silvia, a virtual stranger, while her parents are in rehab for drug addiction. Laura’s social worker says that she’s lucky, but it doesn’t feel that way. Puerto Rican American Laura is worried her parents are angry with her, and wonders when she’ll get to see them again. She also resents Titi Silvia’s many rules and can’t imagine her aunt actually wants to take care of her. When Laura finds a puppy, she’s surprised Titi Silvia says she can keep it. Laura names him Sparrow and plans to train him as a therapy dog. Her new friend Benson, who is dog-savvy, agrees to help. But Benson (Black), who has sickle cell anemia, is clearly upset when Laura later notes that the two of them are friends “for now”—because she hopes to return home with her parents, and to her old friends, soon. Laura’s observant first-person voice is full of uncertainty, hope, and longing in this novel-in-verse about the impact of parental addiction on Laura’s outlook and sense of security as she navigates being in kinship foster care. Honest regarding the struggle of overcoming addiction, the story offers a welcome, hopeful, but realistic ending, with Laura and her aunt building a loving relationship, Laura and Benson building a solid friendship, and Laura’s parents still trying to get better—for her sake and theirs. (Ages 9–12)

The Pura Belpré Honor winning novel in verse, in which a lost dog helps a lonely girl find a way home to her family . . . only for them to find family in each other along the way. From the Newbery Honor winning author of Iveliz Explains It All.

“Trust me: this book will touch your heart." —Barbara O’Connor, New York Times bestselling author of Wish

Titi Silvia leaves me by myself to unpack,
but it’s not like I brought a bunch of stuff.
How do you prepare for the unpreparable?
How do you fit your whole life in one bag?
And how am I supposed to trust social services
when they won’t trust me back?

Laura Rodríguez Colón has a plan: no matter what the grown-ups say, she will live with her parents again. Can you blame her? It’s tough to make friends as the new kid at school. And while staying at her aunt’s house is okay, it just isn’t the same as being in her own space.

So when Laura finds a puppy, it seems like fate. If she can train the puppy to become a therapy dog, then maybe she’ll be allowed to visit her parents. Maybe the dog will help them get better and things will finally go back to the way they should be.

After all, how do you explain to others that you’re technically a foster kid, even though you live with your aunt? And most importantly . . . how do you explain that you’re not where you belong, and you just want to go home?