Bringing up Beauty Book

As if bathtub floods, chewed homework, and accidents on the floor weren't enough! Being saddled with so much responsibility for bringing up Beauty only adds insult to injury. With a flapjack tongue and oversized feet, this is the ugliest puppy Elizabeth has ever seen. It will be easy to resist loving her. And since Beauty is only staying until she can be trained as a guide dog, there is no room for love in this relationship...

At the age of twelve, with busy parents, a sister who's too cool for words, and two best friends suddenly dating each other, Elizabeth could use a little unconditional love.

Children's Literature

Elizabeth is the typical preadolescent. She is constantly aware of the tensions in her family: an overworked father, a mother with high expectations, and a rebellious teenage sister. Her only escape from the family discomfort is the puppy she has been charged with training for a guide dog program. At first, she is adamant that she will not become attached to the dog, Beauty. But as time goes by, Elizabeth finds that Beauty provides the only stability in her life. When Elizabeth's two best friends—one is a boy across the street who has been her friend forever, and the other is a girl from school—begin to date, she learns what it is like to be the third wheel. All of a sudden, everyone else is interested in makeup, boys, shopping, and kissing, and Elizabeth is left out. Her family situation declines further when her father loses his job, her mother takes on extra hours at a job she dislikes, and her sister moves in with a boyfriend. Elizabeth becomes obsessed with Beauty's training in order to avoid everything else. This is the story of a girl's painful entry into adolescence, one most adults can remember. It all improves for Elizabeth, just like it improved for all of us who survived that difficult period. This could be a nice book to bridge the generation gap between moms and daughters who find themselves at odds with each other. 2000 (orig. 1994), Stoddart Kids, Ages 10 to 13, $5.95. Reviewer: Carol Lynch