Self-conscious Otis, whose long ears were a source of chagrin in Dog-Eared, now has a rival for his owners' affection: a gray kitten. The spotted hound watches his best friend Lucy and her little sister "fussing over this meowing fluff ball.... The kitten this. The kitten that. I was forgotten." With his plastic dish empty and his fur uncombed, Otis takes to raiding trash cans and chasing cats: "I decided to roam the streets. Doing the things I'm not normally allowed to do. It was a good morning." Otis's matter-of-fact voice lends dignity to his galumphing, brown-and-white-spotted mutt's body. Yet his deadpan statements cannot be mistaken for indifference. His longing for Lucy comes through in his faraway eyes and worried questions: "Was she managing without me?" After choosing a suitable new family at the city park and bunking in a friendly family's laundry room, the runaway bounds home and into Lucy's arms at last. Harvey's delicate watercolor-and-pencil compositions, which give the characters' ears and hair a breezy weightlessness, show that Otis never strays far from his own neighborhood. Lucy—parent-style—doesn't admit she ignored Otis for the kitten, but she cultivates his forgiveness by reading him a book and giving him a hug. With any luck, there will be more dramas to come for these two and their growing family. Ages 3-6. (Jan.)
