Code Name: Serendipity | Smith, Amber

Lange Beschreibung
Fans of Katherine Applegate, Holly Goldberg Sloan, and Lynda Mullaly Hunt will love New York Times bestselling author Amber Smith s heartwarming middle grade debut about family, friendship, and the magic connection between a girl and her dog.

Eleven-year-old Sadie s school year is off to an awful start. Her best (and only) friend has moved away, her older brother is a jerk (as always), and her beloved Gramps is having more and more trouble keeping his memories straight. But when she comes across a stray dog, she discovers something wonderful and magical she and the dog, Dewey, are able to communicate telepathically. Sadie knows that Dewey is destined to be her friend.

Dewey is quickly captured and sent to a shelter. And Sadie s moms say Dewey is dangerous, a bite risk, and that Sadie, whose mind is always wandering with a larger than life imagination, needs to prove she s more responsible before she can adopt any pets. But Sadie is running out of time Dewey lets Sadie know that her days at the shelter are numbered.

The only solution: break Dewey out of doggie jail.

In this reaffirming, magical, and uplifting story of friendship, family, and believing in yourself, New York Times bestselling author Amber Smith assures readers: it s okay to think big and act with your whole heart.

Rezensierung
A touching tale of dogged determination and the magic in unexpected connections. Booklist
 
'A warm, appealing novel about a girl who learns that even though it might seem like everything is going wrong, a bad day or year can always change for the better.' Bookpage
 
Smith creates three-dimensional characters and a warm family dynamic, sensitively portraying learning differences and a beloved grandparent with dementia, and exploring difficult feelings without offering easy answers. Sadie s struggles with friendship and being taken seriously ring true, as do her sympathetic voice and heartfelt love of dogs. Publishers Weekly
 
'A thoughtful exploration of interpersonal relationships and what it means to do right by others and ourselves. A quiet winner for animal lovers and fans of realistic fiction.' Kirkus Reviews
 
Charming and touching. School Library Journal

Tender-hearted and triumphant, this uplifting story shows the many kinds of ways to be lost and found. I couldn't put it down. Gillian McDunn, acclaimed author of Caterpillar Summer and The Queen Bee and Me
 
For anyone who doesn t already know that dogs are magic, this book will make you a believer. Amber Smith crafts a heartwarming story that will have you cheering for the power of a bond between a girl and her dog. Simply perfect. Megan Shepherd, NYT bestselling author of The Secret Horses of Briar Hill
 
Smith hews closely to the perspective of her eleven-year-old protagonist, tenderly portraying her challenges the shame of having an IEP, possibly losing a friend to a move, and witnessing her grandfather struggle with dementia as well as her solutions: rescuing and hiding a dog. Code Name: Serendipity is a heartwarming story about the friendships found in unexpected places, family relationships deepened by trials, and animals who speak to us. Jenn Bishop, author of The Distance to Home and Where We Used to Roam
 
Smith's debut MG novel is a gentle and generous look at how change, even when it's uncomfortable or painful, can lead to good if we let it. With a sweet dog, a mischievous grandpa, and a new friend, our heroine learns to balance following the rules versus following her heart, and that honesty really is the best policy when it comes to the people we love. Rebecca Petruck, author of Steering Toward Normal and Boy Bites Bug

Buchausschnitt

Chapter 1

THINGS THAT DON T SUCK, LIKE FRENCH TOAST AND WEEKENDS

I m always the first one to wake up on Sundays because it is my favorite day, and I never want to lose any time on the weekend by spending it asleep. Weekends mean no school. No math. No waiting, friendless, at the bus stop morning after morning. Weekends mean I get to video chat with my best friend, Jude, who just moved to Utah, and I get to help my moms make a big Sunday-morning breakfast. Weekends mean I can pretend things are still easy, the way they were before I turned eleven a few months ago.

Today is no different.

I hop out of bed and stick my feet into my frog slippers which ribbit if I step hard enough on the little buttons inside the stuffing-filled frog heads and make my way downstairs to the kitchen. My slippers echo ribbitribbit, ribbitribbit with each step.

I start getting out all the pans and mixing bowls and ingredients we will need, lining them up on the kitchen counter: bread from the old wooden bread box; eggs, milk, and real butter not the healthy fake butter that Mom hates but Mama always tries to get us to use instead from the fridge; vanilla extract and cinnamon and powdered sugar from the cupboard where we keep the spices; and Mama s vegetarian sausage patties from the freezer, because that is one food she won t negotiate on.

Sunday-morning breakfast is a family tradition. The best part is dipping the bread into the egg batter and then slapping it onto the hot skillet and listening to it sizzle. French toast is my favorite food of all time. I would eat it for every meal of every day if my moms would let me. But they won t. I ve asked.

This is when Catniss Everdeen my older brother Noah s cat comes wandering into the kitchen sniffing around to see if she can steal anything. He named her after his favorite book character. I thought we should name her Purrmione Granger, but Moms said it was Noah sdecision. Catniss is very good at creeping in and sneaking food when you re not looking. Once she walked off with a whole package of faken, which is what Noahcalls Mama s veggie bacon, and no one even noticed.

My moms usually come downstairs and start making their morning coffee by the time Catniss makes her way to the kitchen. So I sit on one of the stools at the counter and wait.

And I wait.

Catniss loses interest when she sees that no cooking is happening, and she curls up into a tiny cat-ball inside of the square of sunlight that shines through the window onto the kitchen floor.

Still no Moms.

My slippers ribbitribbit as I make my way back up the stairs, with Catniss leaping alongside me, swatting at my feet every few steps. I open my moms bedroom door, expecting to find them sleeping in, only to discover the bed already made and my moms nowhere in sight.

Moms? I call out.

No answer.

I look everywhere in the bathroom, behind the shower curtain, even in the closet but the whole house is quiet.

Too quiet.

My heart starts to race as my mind scrolls through all of the terrible things that could have happened to my family: Abducted by aliens. Swallowed by a sinkhole. Trapped inan alternate universe that sucked in everyone in the world except for Catniss and me. Or maybe I m the one who s stuck in an alternate universe!

Moms! I scream this time, struggling to breathe normally.

I hear Noah s bedroom door creak open in the hallway.

Sadie, stop yelling, he says, with his eyes sleep-squinty and his big curly hair mushed up on one side of his head, flattened on the other. Catniss darts from Moms bed and pounces on my left frog slipper, making it croak out a smal lribbit, before she leaps inside Noah s