More short stories about how this fifth-grader assists her uncle at the animal hospital, helping pets and their owners. This one also features more about the mother. In the first story, Yuzu’s mother comes home from the hospital for a short time, and simultaneously the vet clinic takes in two practically newborn puppies, that require round-the-clock care. Yuzu is asked to care for them (when she’s not in school) and feels overwhelmed by the difficulties. Her mother steps in to do some of the feedings, but it wears her out because she’s supposed to be resting. Then Yuzu insists on doing all the puppy duties, and through that muses about how much her mother must have done for her, back when she was an infant. She shares some heartfelt conversations with her mom about it.
In the second story, Yuzu meets a boy her age with a pug. The dog’s care is often neglected, and as she gets to know him, she realizes the boy neglects other responsibilities, too- not even showing up for practices with a sports team he’s on. He just has a very casual, I-don’t-care attitude about everything. When the dog becomes unwell, he finally starts to worry about it and agrees to attend some pet care classes, bring his dog in for regular checkups, and do better overall with things he’s supposed to. Gets some come-uppance from his teammates, as well. (Yuzu was plenty outraged at his uncaring attitude, which seemed a bit out of place to me- but he did seem to learn from it).
I liked the third story best. It was about a stray cat that Yuzu thought belonged to a shop owner because the cat was always there. She was surprised to see other visitors feeding the cat without asking the shop owner’s permission, and then learned that this was really a stray cat, that wandered between a bunch of different places where he got handouts (and he was quite chubby). Yuzu became concerned about the cat’s health, and asked the shopkeeper why she didn’t take ownership of the cat. She didn’t want to limit his freedom. But when the cat goes missing, the shop owner and Yuzu went looking for it, and found it needed medical help. Finally now the shopkeeper agreed she would claim the cat as her own, keep him from wandering, and give him proper care. Yuzu saw evidence of this when she visited the shop again (with a bunch of other girls who gushed about how so-ugly-he’s-cute that cat was). I didn’t know onions were so bad for cats, by the way.
Final story is just half. About a little boy with a dog that always drags a dirty towel around, and can’t seem to bond with his owners. They had adopted him and didn’t know his history, but intrigued by the dog’s continual disinterest in the little boy’s overtures (and they’d had him quite a while), Yuzu investigates. She finds out that the dog came from a town nearby, so she travels there to try and find out more. It really seems like a long shot, but she does meet a person who knew the dog’s previous owner. Then the dog runs away from his new family, presumably looking for his previous owner, and Yuzu is determined to help them find him again. Continues in the next volume.
Borrowed from the public library.
