What do you think?
Misty and Me
Kim thinks her parents are crazy! If she's not too young to take care of her six year old brother, Willie the Whiner, how can she be too young to have a puppy?!
So Kim decides to take matters into her own hands. She'll get a puppy anyways! She finds Misty at the animal shelter - a mutt with the silkiest, softest coat and the brightest, biggest brown eyes ever. Then with her baby-sitting money she hires a kind old lady to take care of Misty till Kim can break the news to her parents. But Kim forgets about paying for dog food, shots, a collar and heaven knows what else. Soon, her life is one big financial disaster!
How can she keep paying the bills til Misty's ready to come home with her? And what if her parents find out? Kim can't imagine anything worse in the whole world than having to give up her Misty.
So Kim decides to take matters into her own hands. She'll get a puppy anyways! She finds Misty at the animal shelter - a mutt with the silkiest, softest coat and the brightest, biggest brown eyes ever. Then with her baby-sitting money she hires a kind old lady to take care of Misty till Kim can break the news to her parents. But Kim forgets about paying for dog food, shots, a collar and heaven knows what else. Soon, her life is one big financial disaster!
How can she keep paying the bills til Misty's ready to come home with her? And what if her parents find out? Kim can't imagine anything worse in the whole world than having to give up her Misty.
171 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 13, 2014
This was my favorite book as a child (probably aged 10 or so) and I read it many, many times. I was delighted when I found a used copy on Amazon and quickly ordered it for my 11 year old daughter. It arrived yesterday, I wondered if it would still hold it's original magical appeal for me now. I only intended to read the first couple of pages - an hour and a half later I flipped the last page. Yep, as good, perhaps even better, than I remembered. I actually had to leave the room my daughter was in so she wouldn't notice my emotional response to the ending - I didn't want to ruin it for her. A wonderful story that certainly stands the test of time.
August 30, 2010
Then end was so sad!
October 10, 2014
This book has far too much talk of food and consuming food. Graphic, even. The first chapter was so full of this, I quickly resolved to skip such descriptions and paragraphs and instead focus on the dialogue. But I shouldn't have to anyway. It went on several times throughout my reading.
Beside this, I find wonderful the girl's strong desire for a puppy. She's very sweet and thoughtful of the things she enjoys in life, and I relate to the struggle she has in having as much good stuff in her life as possible. I also understand how she never wants to be left out in taking care of and being with Misty, and I understand her fear that Misty doesn't need her and might even forget about her. I also like and relate to her ability in lying to her parents and others. Parents are irrational and manipulative creatures who haven't the basic understanding of others, which results in their children having to lie in order to survive and have some semblance of happiness. So I appreciate that this book seems to say that such behaviour is normal, that familial conditions obligate such behaviour, and that it isn't something to be ashamed of - especially if it's for retaining that fun, happy, educating experience of being responsible for the care for a puppy.
Along with this, I also like how the book seems to be on the side of Kim. The disempowering of youth is something her character resists as much as is possible for her. There are multiple times where she, as any observant youth is, notes the hypocrisies of adults. At one point she narrates, "...no wonder we couldn't grow up to be independent when parents and teachers were always checking on us." This I understand very well. She's expected to be independently responsible when it conveniences the adults, and yet is helicoptered about everything else. This simple hypocrisy is what creates the story in the first place: that she is expected to take care of her younger brother while their mom is at work, and yet is talked down to and denied opportunity, when she applies that same sense of responsibility of taking care of a pup.
Despite all the things I liked about this book, the ending was just horrible and short-sighted. I hate it. After everything Kim did to find and take care of Misty, the old woman who was secretly taking care of the puppy, gets a heart attack but lives, and Kim's parents find out about Misty. They eventually accept her, and the old woman is to be brought to the other side of the country to live with her daughter. And before she goes, Kim just gives the puppy to the old woman - when she could have gotten her own puppy to take care of. After everything, Kim just gives up. This is so in contrast to everything else about Kim, and is quite out of character, that this ending significantly prevents me from being able to enjoy the book as a whole.
Beside this, I find wonderful the girl's strong desire for a puppy. She's very sweet and thoughtful of the things she enjoys in life, and I relate to the struggle she has in having as much good stuff in her life as possible. I also understand how she never wants to be left out in taking care of and being with Misty, and I understand her fear that Misty doesn't need her and might even forget about her. I also like and relate to her ability in lying to her parents and others. Parents are irrational and manipulative creatures who haven't the basic understanding of others, which results in their children having to lie in order to survive and have some semblance of happiness. So I appreciate that this book seems to say that such behaviour is normal, that familial conditions obligate such behaviour, and that it isn't something to be ashamed of - especially if it's for retaining that fun, happy, educating experience of being responsible for the care for a puppy.
Along with this, I also like how the book seems to be on the side of Kim. The disempowering of youth is something her character resists as much as is possible for her. There are multiple times where she, as any observant youth is, notes the hypocrisies of adults. At one point she narrates, "...no wonder we couldn't grow up to be independent when parents and teachers were always checking on us." This I understand very well. She's expected to be independently responsible when it conveniences the adults, and yet is helicoptered about everything else. This simple hypocrisy is what creates the story in the first place: that she is expected to take care of her younger brother while their mom is at work, and yet is talked down to and denied opportunity, when she applies that same sense of responsibility of taking care of a pup.
Despite all the things I liked about this book, the ending was just horrible and short-sighted. I hate it. After everything Kim did to find and take care of Misty, the old woman who was secretly taking care of the puppy, gets a heart attack but lives, and Kim's parents find out about Misty. They eventually accept her, and the old woman is to be brought to the other side of the country to live with her daughter. And before she goes, Kim just gives the puppy to the old woman - when she could have gotten her own puppy to take care of. After everything, Kim just gives up. This is so in contrast to everything else about Kim, and is quite out of character, that this ending significantly prevents me from being able to enjoy the book as a whole.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 10, 2015
Misty and Me...
Where to begin. I read this book when I was 10 or 11 and fell in love with Misty and her fur-less people. I cried. I laughed. I remember most of the scenes in that novel as if I read I just finished it today. I remember going into Kim's house and talking with her family! Ugh. I still have that book...it sits proudly among my favorites.
It was the first book I ever cried over its pages. It's a dear book about friendship, family, growing up, and having responsibility. A lovely, lovely book for any kid and adult to read.
Where to begin. I read this book when I was 10 or 11 and fell in love with Misty and her fur-less people. I cried. I laughed. I remember most of the scenes in that novel as if I read I just finished it today. I remember going into Kim's house and talking with her family! Ugh. I still have that book...it sits proudly among my favorites.
It was the first book I ever cried over its pages. It's a dear book about friendship, family, growing up, and having responsibility. A lovely, lovely book for any kid and adult to read.
December 30, 2024
This was one of the very first books I remember reading as a kid. I remember because it made me cry. So it always stuck with me.
Years later I bought the book for my daughter who is a huge dog lover. She read it and said it was sad but didn't tear up. There's something wrong with that girl. I read it again in 3 hours and again, it had me crying. I told her she's cold hearted! 😂😭
I highly recommend this book for anyone reading to their kids or young readers. It's a great story. It make for a great movie.
Years later I bought the book for my daughter who is a huge dog lover. She read it and said it was sad but didn't tear up. There's something wrong with that girl. I read it again in 3 hours and again, it had me crying. I told her she's cold hearted! 😂😭
I highly recommend this book for anyone reading to their kids or young readers. It's a great story. It make for a great movie.
September 6, 2024
If you want to have your heart absolutely ripped out by a dog book but still enjoy it, read this one ❤️ The ending used to make me scream and wail and cry and say that I would /never/- but the older I got, the more I understood it. So sweet, so good, and full of depictions of all kinds of love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2020
one of my all time favorite books, my mom used to read it to me when i was little. great book to read to kids
August 30, 2022
Going through my old childhood books, it's still so sweet!
October 21, 2010
I have been trying to remember the name of this book for a long time now, and after searching and searching online, I finally found it! This was one of my favorite books in 4th/5th grade. I wanted my own puppy sooo bad, and my parents wouldn't let me get one -- so this book had me fantasizing about secretely getting one anyways and keeping him hidden, lol. In the book, the little girl adopts a puppy named Misty and keeps her at her elderly neighbor's house, hoping that her parents won't find out. I'm sure, like most of my favorite books when I was a kid, I read this over and over again. I'm always kicking myself for ever getting rid of all my old childhood books!
Read
January 15, 2016This is dated, but ultimately harmless. If you updated this with something other than disco dancing and updated the money situation, you could probably get it pretty modern pretty easily. The biggest things, I think, are the money and the attitude about the mother working. It's not disapproved of by pretty much anyone except Kim, and she's not meant to be in the right about that, but it is seen as something a little unusual. The author has several characters speak very positively about it, and I liked that, considering it was 1979 when this was published. Read the rest on my blog.
November 10, 2014
This was one of the first books I ordered, through a school program (Scholastic?) paid for with my allowance and fell in love with reading. I think any child crazy about animals, they watch all the nature programs and thinking of becoming veterinarians, will enjoy this book. I will be acquiring this for my nieces and nephews.
Read
April 4, 2013The first time I read this book, I cried so hard that my mom actually got me out of bed and made me hot chocolate and let me sleep in her bed that night. I don't know what I'd think of it now, but as a kid, I would bawl my eyes out when I read it. Every darned time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2009
This is one of the only animal books I vividly remember reading in middle school.
June 27, 2011
This book was pretty good, I was surprised that I actually enjoyed it.
September 12, 2012
This was the 1st or 2nd novel I ever read. I adored it. I read it around the same time I read Charlotte's Web. I think I was 9 or 10. Sweet memories.
November 8, 2016
Children's book I read to my students.
April 29, 2017
Kim and Willie's mother decides to go back to work, which delays the promise of getting a dog. So, Kim takes matters into her own hands. She hires Mrs. Mac to dog-sit until she can break it to her parents. To add to her stress, Lisa, Kim's friend, has become Growing up can be very confusing.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews