The adventures of a dog named Petit

THE ADVENTURES OF A DOG NAMED PETIT

Heloisa Prieto ILLUSTRATIONS Maria Eugênia

THE ADVENTURES OF A DOG NAMED PETIT

THE ADVENTURES OF A DOG NAMED PETIT

Heloisa Prieto ILLUSTRATIONS Maria Eugênia

Copyright © Heloisa Prieto, 2021 All rights reserved to EDITORA FTD S.A. Rui Barbosa, 156 — Bela Vista — São Paulo — SP Zip Code 01326-010 — Phone (0-55-11) 3598-6000 www.ftd.com.br CONTACTS DIRECTOR

Ricardo Tavares de Oliveira

PUBLISHER

Isabel Lopes Coelho

FOREIGN RIGHTS

Tassia Oliveira

foreignrights@ftd.com.br

Heloisa Prieto has already published close to 85 books.

Besides writing, she also translates from English and French into Portuguese, and holds creative writing workshops with the art-educator Priscila Nemeth, and the poet and translator Victor Scatolin.

Over the last years, she has travelled to Dublin, in Ireland, to take part in meetings with writers, as well as workshops and courses. In 2020, she had short stories published in the collections Covid-19 Chronicles 1 and 2, from the Inkslingers writers group.

Maria Eugênia Longo Cabello Campos has Illustrated over 100 books for children and adults. With her works, she has participated in various exhibitions, including those of the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration, both based in New York, in the US, and that of the Children�s and Young Adults Book Fair in Bologna, in Italy. She took part in a workshop held by Unesco and the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) at the Bienal of Illustrations in Bratislava, in Slovakia. She has worked for magazines and newspapers, including Folha de São Paulo, and has had her drawings printed on various design and stationery.

To Renata For Lydia Vainer, in memoriam. for I wish to thank Luiza Del Monaco hip, nds her encouragement and frie e Raissa Pala Veras for the sensitiv lly ecia exchange of ideas, and esp s.

Jeremy Murphy for his suggestion

When my sister was born, I just died of jealousy.

She was my doll. Nobody else could play with her.

When guests would come over, I would find a way to do something strange to make everyone get away from Alice.

“Olivia! What is this about, sweetie? Do you need attention that bad?”

I did not want anyone to notice me. I just didn�t like it when people kept on touching my dear Alice. I could never have imagined that a sister just come of hospital could be pretty: a rounded forehead, curly hair, and a little hand that wanted to grab my finger to play.

“Alice is my sister!” I said. “And she is going to sleep in my bedroom when she gets older. And we are going to play, take baths, travel, go to school, and do everything together….”

My mother did not know what to do with me. Many months went by. And Alice kept on getting prettier and I kept on getting more jealous. Then, my father came up with an idea.

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“I think I know an anti-jealousy vaccine for Olivia! It�s so simple! She needs a little baby that is just hers, someone she adores...”

“Oh no, George!” said Mummy. “It�s too early to have another baby!”

“Baby?” Daddy asked and after that he said nothing more.

I could not sleep, I just kept on thinking about what Daddy was plotting. The next day, right at breakfast, he said to all of us: “Tomorrow is the day to choose a little dog… I will take the girls to the shelter where they can adopt a puppy.

And taking care of it will be entirely Olivia�s whole responsibility, right, my lovely daughter?”

Another night without sleeping.

I could not believe in so much happiness! I dreamed of having a little dog and Daddy had guessed what I most wanted…

When we arrived at the shelter, Mommy got down from the car first, with Alice in her arms. I could never have imagined that a little baby could feel so happy in a place full of little dogs. Alice could not stop laughing. She clapped her hands. She giggled. We went by little dogs of every kind, color, size and age…

How to decide?

The oldest ones looked at me as if they were people, the smallest ones played amongst themselves. They were so beautiful that I felt like choosing all of them at the same time.

“I don�t know which puppy to choose, Dad…” I said feeling a little bit down.

That is when Alice escaped out of her mom�s arms and walked swinging from side to side to a little puppy that was playing alone, facing the wall. He was not the best looking, nor did he seem to be the smartest. I was not sure that he was the puppy of my dreams.

Suddenly, Alice looked like a kind of sister to that puppy.

She got on all fours and let out a baby�s bark. The puppy replied with another bark. Alice imitated the way it walked. The puppy came and licked my sister�s cheek. She laughed very hard. It swagged its tail and rolled belly up.

My sister did too…

“I think that the ideal puppy has been chosen” said Daddy.

“Ah, he really is very friendly” said the owner of the shelter. “His name is Petit. It means ‘little’ in French… I�m the one who chose it. But, if you want to change its name, feel free, of course.”

“Petit seems perfect!” said Daddy.

At that moment, I noticed Mummy whispering: “Dear, it�s all wrong… Wasn�t Olivia supposed to choose the puppy? Like that, she would stop feeling so jealous…”

I ran and hugged both! Alice and Petit! The little dog was already on my sister�s lap, even though she was just a baby. Petit found a way of sitting near her in such a way they ended up looking like a single thing.

“Mommy! I loved Petit! He�s going to have two mothers: me and Alice!”

“All right. We�ll keep him, but only if you promise to stop tormenting our guests…”

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