Like so many real-life women before her, Deena tries to fill the void by doing a charitable deed. Since her family doesn’t appreciate her, doesn’t need her, she jumps at the chance to reach out to somebody who does. While watching Oprah she learns about the opportunity to raise guide dogs for the blind, and her new-life adventure begins.

The thing I liked most about this book is that I could connect with Deena. She and her family were so busy doing things that they don’t have the time to be a family or themselves. I’m not a mother, but I have had pets, a great big cat named Fuzzy was a comic parallel in the story, as was puppy poop on the bottom of my shoe and clearing a spot in the snow for the puppy to squat. I’ve looked in a store window and wondered why that poor woman even comes outside and then discovered it was my own reflection. I’ve been told that there’s "nothing in your size, do you want to look at moisturizers?" by the child behind the counter at Vicky’s.

I hesitated to review this book because I don’t like huge emotional thunderstorms and books about animals set me up for that, especially a story that tells you up front that the dog has to be taken from the family before it is over. Amazingly I didn’t cry at that point. When the big moment comes, albeit significant, it will not be devastating for you or the Mungers. It is just another page turned in the scrapbook of a family.