Otis, the affable brown-and-white pup with long, floppy ears, first introduced in Dog Eared, is dismayed when his owner, Lucy, unexpectedly comes home with a new kitten. Lucy and her little sister are so taken with the "meowing fluff ball" that they completely forget to give Otis his breakfast or brush his fur. In fact, they don"t even notice when Otis takes off on his own. Out on the town, Otis misbehaves for a while, nosing about in garbage cans and chasing cats. But when the day gets hot, he heads for the shade of the park, where he watches a multitude of happy dogs playing with their owners and indulges in a bit of self pity: "Did they have to share their home with a kitten? ... Were their bellies grumbling? Were their mouths dry? Somehow I didn"t think so." Otis attempts to ingratiate himself with other dog-and-owner families, but eventually misses Lucy and decides to go home. She welcomes him with open arms, treats him to a huge pile of bones in his dog dish, and reads him his favorite book, Great Dogs in History. The hot, bright day is beautifully captured in author/illustrator Amanda Harvey"s sun-washed watercolors, and her funny, understated exploration of the ways that dogs and their owners often resemble each other will delight kids and adults alike. (Ages 4 to 8) --Jennifer Lindsay