Lulu Walks the Dogs

By Judith Viorst and Lane Smith

Feisty Lulu sets out to make some dough in this illustrated chapter book with “plenty of appeal” (Kirkus Reviews) from children’s book legends Judith Viorst and Lane Smith.

The stubbornly hilarious Lulu has decided it’s time to buckle down and earn some cash. How else can she save up enough money to buy the very special thing that she is ALWAYS and FOREVER going to want? After some failed attempts at lucrative gigs (baking cookies, spying, reading to old people), dog walking seems like a sensible choice. But Brutus, Pookie, and Cordelia are not interested in making the job easy, and the infuriatingly helpful neighborhood goody-goody, Fleischman, has Lulu at the end of her rope. And with three wild dogs at the other end, Lulu’s patience is severely tested. Will she ever make a friend—or the money she needs?

In this standalone sequel to Lulu and the Brontosaurus, children’s book legends Judith Viorst and Lane Smith once again prove that even the loudest, rudest, and most obstinate of girls can win us over.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Release date: Sep 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781442435810

Judith Viorst

Judith Viorst is the author of the beloved Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which has sold some four million copies; the Lulu books, including Lulu and the Brontosaurus; the New York Times bestseller Necessary Losses; four musicals; and poetry for children and young adults. Her most recent books of poetry include What Are You Glad About? What Are You Mad About? and Nearing Ninety.

Book preview

title

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Time-Out

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Time-Out

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Time-Out

Chapter Twenty

Time-Out

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

The Last Time-Out

Overtime

The End

For Daniel Luoh Hersh

—J. V.

For Strino and Creampuff

—L. S.

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SINCE a kid named Fleischman is going to hang around a whole lot in these pages, I need to tell you right away that Fleischman is not his LAST name but his FIRST name. Fleischman was his mom’s last name before she married his dad and changed HER name to HIS, just like other moms’ last names could be Anderson or Kelly before THEY got married. (Some moms don’t change their last names after they’re married, but I really don’t feel like discussing that right now.) Anyway—stay with me here—some of these used-to-be Kelly moms might decide to first-name their daughters Kelly, and some Anderson moms might first-name their sons Anderson. Or maybe they’d name their sons Kelly and daughters Anderson. And though not too many Fleischman moms decide to name their kids Fleischman, Fleischman’s mom did.

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Got it? No? Well, too bad if you don’t. I’m busy, and it’s time to tell my story.

diagram

Lulu—remember Lulu?—used to always be a big pain, till she met Mr. B, a lovely brontosaurus. Now she is just a sometimes pain, and not nearly as rude as before. But unless what she wants is utterly, totally, absolutely, and no-way-José impossible, she’s still a girl who wants what she wants when she wants it.

So, what is it, exactly, that our Lulu wants? Right now I’m just saying it costs a lot of money. Furthermore, her mom and her dad, who give her almost everything she asks for, said to her—with many sighs and sorries—that they couldn’t afford to buy it for her and that she would HAVE TO EARN THE MONEY TO GET IT.

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Lulu thought about throwing one of her famous screeching, heel-kicking, arm-waving tantrums, except that—since her last birthday—she wasn’t doing that baby stuff anymore. So, instead, she tried some other ways—politer, quieter, sneakier, grown-upper ways—of changing their minds.

First try: "Why are you being so cruel to me, to your only child, to

Reviews for Lulu Walks the Dogs

[jwyss-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another fun book about a precocious girl who is determined to earn money to buy something special that her parents will not buy for her. Not until the end do we find out what she wants to purchase.

[howifeelaboutbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In the second Lulu book, Lulu gets a job walking dogs. Except she doesn’t know anything about dogs, so she needs a little help - but she doesn’t want to accept advice from her know-it-all neighbor.

[christianr_899499 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Put together a sassy narrator, a determined but impatient (and often rude) girl, and a goody two-shoes and you get funny, fast-paced Lulu Walks the Dogs. Lulu needs money for a secret desire, so she eventually gives up wheedling her parents and decides to run a dog walking business. Too bad she didn't bother to learn anything about dogs. Fleischman, the annoyingly perfect neighbor boy, volunteers to help and even though she needs him desperately, she doesn't treat him very nicely. The narrator's quips and asides to the reader are as entertaining as the binds Lulu gets into when she tries to go without Fleischman.