Patricia

On the most exhausting day of her young life, Patricia Kirby finds something that will change everything: a small, bedraggled stray dog with nowhere to go. She names him Custard, of course, because that's exactly the kind of name a thoughtful, imaginative girl would choose. What follows is a day's adventure through neighborhood doors and back alleys, as Patricia, with the relentless optimism only a child can muster, attempts to convince various families that this scruffy little dog belongs with one of them. Along the way, she clashes with the practical, unimpressed adults who see only inconvenience, particularly her formidable Aunt Julia. But Patricia sees something else entirely: a creature who needs her, and the possibility of a perfect match waiting to be found. This is a portrait of childhood as it truly is, not the sanitized version but the real one full of desperate hope, embarrassing miscalculations, and speaking too loudly in the wrong moments. It's for anyone who remembers what it felt like to care enormously about something the adult world deemed small.