Latasha and the Kidd on Keys — Michael Scotto

Latasha Gandy returns in "Latasha and the Kidd on Keys," the story of a whip-smart and headstrong nine-year-old living in Pittsburgh with her nurse's aide mother and a three-legged rescue dog named Ella Fitzgerald. Latasha leads a very full life, but something isn't quite right. She can feel it when she spends time with her best friend Ricky's picture-perfect family--a longing, a sense that something is missing. Latasha soon realizes that it's not something that's missing, but someone: her father, Patrick Kidd, a charming but utterly unreliable musician whom she hasn't seen in years. When Latasha gets a chance to reconnect, the almost-fourth-grader resolves to make "The Kidd" a real part of her family. Through laughter and tears, and with profound empathy, this novel follows Latasha as she struggles with her flighty father, the growing friction between she and Ricky, a massive school project--and, as always, a puppy whose loving nature is surpassed only by her naughtiness.