Jane's earthy quirky mom embarrasses her when compared to other kids' "fancy" moms. But Jane has a change of heart when she sees how her mom handles a snake on a hike.
Etina a girl in Malawi Africa worries that she has nothing exciting to tell her American pen pal. Her grandmother encourages her to look at her village "with another pair of eyes."
The story begins by introducing Bear a cat who spends the evenings with Rusty and Robbie and Max a cat that visits Sheila every day. When Bear goes missing Sheila figures out what happened.
