Orchard Books, 2012
$16.99, ages 3 and up, 40 pages
A little girl sees just what she wants to see in a big, rough-and-tumble stray, in this joyful celebration of positive thinking.
One morning Lily lifts her chin just enough to see out of her bedroom window and spots a giant animal rummaging through her garbage can.
Thinking nothing of the fruit peels and tin cans flying through the air, she decides right there that this guy's everything she ever wanted in a pet: he's got four legs, a tail and a big, wet nose.
"Doggy!" she cries, running out in the yard in her galoshes, flinging her arms up in delight.
Now face-to-face with this barreling fellow, she realizes he's a lot bigger than she thought and when he growls he sounds a bit grouchy.
But no matter because Lily thinks he's lovely. All he needs, she tells herself, is a good looking-after.
