Barbara Abercrombie

When Matthew has nothing for show-and-tell one day, he tells the class that he has a lion living at his house, but when his classmates want to come see it he must decide what to do.

"Because 'grieving for an animal can be a pretty lonely place,' Barbara Abercrombie created this joyful and poignant, funny and smart collection of commiseration. Readers meet the cat who liked to fish tampon tubes out of the trash and then appear 'jauntily holding one in his mouth as if smoking a cigarette,' the dog who demanded down pillows, and even a coyote who became part of the family. The sometimes surprising things animals add to a household--and...