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Connie is a young girl with a lot to think about. Not only has she had to leave her apartment in New York and her beloved grandparents to move to the countryside, but she has also had the shock of discovering she is adopted. With her whole life changing around her, Connie's one ray of hope is in the promise that her mother has made her: in their nice, new, and bigger house, Connie will have a big backyard and a puppy. As Connie gets to know the puppies that her best friend Pam has found, however, she becomes more and more worried about them. Their mother left them, just like hers did. Will the puppies' mother come back to snatch their happiness away from them? Will her father try to turn up and take her away from her family? This story follows Connie's journey of self-discovery.
The author's tale is both touching and sensitively written. The weaving together of Connie's emotions and narrative with that of the puppy is skillfully handled, offering readers a realistic depiction of the fears and concerns of a six-year-old girl. It is difficult not to love Connie for her enthusiasm, her wild sense of dress, and her deep affection for her family and her puppy. Most impressive about this story, however, is that it offers an exploration of adoption that is both positive and believable. Whitehead-Gill does not try to pretend to readers that being adopted is not traumatic and disturbing, but she does make it clear that having a loving family is what matters in the end. Overall, this is a heartwarming and instructive story.