Rica Baptista: Llamas, Iguanas, and My Very Best Friend Bates Janet Costa

Rica's very best friend is moving away. Friendship and family shine in this engaging young chapter book.Rica Baptista wants--no, needs--a pet. How can she convince her parents to let her get a pet so she won't be lonely?

She even has a name picked out: Frederica, her own name, after her Cape Verdean great-great-grandfather. A llama, a kinkajou, or maybe an iguana? But Rica's parents say no almost faster than their mouths can open.

The worst part is that Rica can't tell anyone the real reason she wants a pet, because she's not supposed to know--she overheard that her best friend, Laini, is moving away, and Rica worries about being left behind. Rica and Laini make lists of the benefits of having a pet to convince Rica's parents, and they try all sorts of schemes to raise money to afford one, from party planning to holding a yard sale to entering a poetry contest. But in