Looking for True

<b>When two unlikely friends bond over shared compassion for a bereft but lovable dog they learn what it truly means to find a sense of belonging and identity.</b> <p/>Eleven-year-olds Gladys and Jude live in the same small rust belt town and go to the same school but they are definitely not friends. Gladys is a tiny eccentric walking dictionary who doesn't hesitate to express herself while Jude likes to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself. But they both agree that a new dog in the neighborhood is being mistreated by its owner. <p/>Gladys would like to do something to help while Jude is more resigned to the situation-- until the dog (who Gladys has named True Blue) disappears. They hatch a plan to find her and once they do realize they have a problem: Gladys's father is allergic and Jude's mother hates dogs. There is no way they can bring her home. <p/>They hide True Blue in an abandoned house on the edge of town but as their ties to the dog--and to one another--deepen so does the impossibility of keeping such a big secret. Yet giving True up will break all three of their hearts.<br><i> </i> <p/>Told in alternating voices set in a small rust-belt town <i>Looking for True</i> is a story about family identity and finding friends in unexpected places. <p/><b> </b><br><b>A <i>Horn Book </i>Fanfare Title</b>