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Free Kid to Good Home
by Hiroshi Ito
Age Range: 6-8
“Not Long ago my little brother turned up. He looks just like a potato”. Feeling that she is being ignored and left out after her new baby brother Daichan arrives the young narrator decides to run away and find a new home where she will be appreciated - “I’m never going back. I’m going to be the world’s cutest stray kid.” In her best handwriting, she creates a sign saying FREE KID on a box and waits in the street for a new family. She doesn’t intend to go with just anyone though; her father must be handsome and kind, her mother beautiful and smart and they’ll have lots of servants and the most important thing of all will be that there won’t be a potato-faced brother!
Sitting in the box like an abandoned pet waiting for a new set of parents to adopt her the little girl is joined by a lost dog, who would like a new home where there is a big yard and owners who don’t shout at him, a stray cat, who wants a warm and loving home, and even a turtle who has very precise requirements for an aquarium.
Free Kid Good Home by Japanese author and illustrator Hiroshi Ito has been a best-seller in Japan for over thirty years. In this first, carefully crafted English translation by Cathy Hirano, Ito provides an engaging and unusual twist on sibling rivalry taking a child’s impulse to run away from home to a comical extreme. The poignant characters of the girl and her animal companions together with the delightful humous narrative and dialogue show the innocent jealousy of an only child who suddenly finds she has to share her parents’ affection. The story is further enhanced by the expressive comic-style illustrations in simple black and red pen and ink. A book that is guaranteed to capture the hearts of a whole new audience of English-speaking readers.