Fred Stays with Me! - Paperback

by Nancy Coffelt (Author), Tricia Tusa (Illustrator)

A poignant picture book about a young girl, who in the face of her parents' divorce, turns to the one constant in her life-her dog Fred.

Sometimes I live with my mom. Sometimes I live with my dad. But Fred stays with me.

Told from the point of view of a young child whose parents are divorced, Fred Stays with Me follows a girl and her dog, Fred, from one parent's house to the other's, giving her a sense of continuity and stability. With a simple text and childlike language, the story expresses and addresses a child's concerns, highlights the friendship between child and pet, presents a common ground for the parents, and resolves conflict in a positive way. Tricia Tusa's charming and whimsical artwork adds a light, happy feel to this poignant--but not overly sentimental--story.

Author Biography

Nancy Coffelt is the author/illustrator of the several picture books for Harcourt: The Dog Who Cried Woof; Good Night, Sigmund; Tom's Fish; and Dogs in Space. She began writing and painting children's books when she started a family of her own. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

Tricia Tusa has written and illustrated several acclaimed picture books, including Mrs. Spitzer's Garden; Maebelle's Suitcase; Camilla's New Hairdo; Bunnies in My Head, which features drawings by young patients at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; and our own Wing Nuts. She lives in New Mexico.