ALMENA'S DOGS

A familiar figure in Regina Woody's stories, particularly Starlight (Morrow), Almena Brown is the daughter in a Negro family who live in New York. Her father works for a wealthy Long Island stable and kennel man, her mother is a nurse and while Almena loves dogs and wants to be a veterinarian, they are forbidden by lease to have pets in the apartment. As the story goes, following Almena's adventures during summer and the school year, she starts caring for other people's dogs and is rewarded at last when her father's job will take them permanently to the kennels in the country. Though episodic in parts, this is a warm story of a girl making the best of things.