Sixth-grad­er Veron­i­ca Mor­gan is mad­ly in love with her new pup­py. Hav­ing recent­ly trans­ferred to a New York City pri­vate school, Veron­i­ca is refo­cus­ing some of her pri­or­i­ties as she learns to nav­i­gate unfa­mil­iar social rela­tion­ships, aca­d­e­m­ic chal­lenges, grown-up respon­si­bil­i­ties, and the neces­si­ty of han­dling change grace­ful­ly. Her psy­chi­a­trist par­ents are anx­ious to help, per­haps a bit too anx­ious, Veron­i­ca thinks. Her new pup­py is a great dis­trac­tion from all the pres­sure for a while but even­tu­al­ly the expe­ri­ence of own­ing and lov­ing a pet helps Veron­i­ca mature and grow and teach­es her much about life and loss in a sto­ry that touch­es the heart. Along the way, the fam­i­ly mem­bers dis­cuss issues includ­ing how to meld their cul­tur­al­ly Jew­ish fam­i­ly lifestyle into a more com­plex over­all Jew­ish iden­ti­ty and they begin to explore what Judaism means to them. The jour­ney is uneven and incon­sis­tent which rings true as such jour­neys are often pre­cise­ly con­duct­ed that way. The some­what stereo­typed char­ac­ter­i­za­tions are tem­pered by humor and heart and Veron­i­ca’s voice is appeal­ing in a self-dep­re­cat­ing way while she gains con­fi­dence and depth as she matures. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 10 – 13.