Maggie sat on her blue bedroom carpet surrounded by books and stuffed animals. Her new miniature long-haired dachshund puppy wiggled into the room and burrowed her head into Maggie’s knees.

“New Puppy,” she said, “would you like to read a book before we get ready for Daddy’s party?”

The auburn puppy nuzzled her slender hands with her cold, wet nose.

“Okay, New Puppy, let’s read The Buh-Beren…Berenst…Berenstains’ B Book! Would you like that?”

The new puppy got down on her belly with her tail wagging in the air and yelped.

“I would like it too!” said Maggie, and then she began reading: “Big brown—puppy, you’re little brown!—big brown bear—puppy, did you know that bears hibernate in the winter? I don’t think puppies do, though—big brown bear, blue bull—hey, that’s like Babe the Blue Ox!—big brown bear, blue bull, beautiful baboon—puppy, do you see that baboon? She looks so silly!”

“Maggie,” said her daddy from the doorway, “are you getting ready for the party?”

She looked up from her books, shocked; she never thought she’d be caught in the act of reading to her new puppy.

“Oh, hi, Daddy! I’m getting ready for the party, but I’m just reading to New Puppy first because she’s nervous about meeting everybody,” she said, stroking the puppy’s  soft black ears.

Her daddy knelt down beside her and pat the puppy’s head.

“Okay, Maggie. Finish reading the new puppy the B Book and then put all these books and toys away and get dressed in that pretty romper Mommy picked out.”

“Okay, Daddy! I like that romper because it has many sunflowers on it and I even get to wear one in my braid!”

“That’s right, honey. Hey, maybe you can name the new puppy Sunny because you like sunflowers so much,” he suggested.

Maggie held the puppy’s delicate face between her hands and stared into her big brown eyes. She saw only love looking back at her.

“Hmmm, Sunny…Sunny…are you Sunny? You seem happy like the sun, but you’re not yellow!” she said, then she looked at her daddy, “I don’t think New Puppy should be named Sunny, Daddy.”

“You’re right. What was I thinking? She’s not yellow! So, finish up now and get ready for the party. Remember you’ll have to name her soon! She can’t be New Puppy forever,” he said as he kissed the top of her head and left the room.

She finished reading the B Book, giggling at the alliteration and repeating, “And that’s what broke baby bird’s balloon!” to the puppy, laying on her back in the center of the room with all her books around her like the planets orbiting the sun. She picked up the puppy and held her over her head so she could look up and pretend that the puppy was flying through the silver stars and moon that her Mommy painted on the ceiling to make it feel like space.

Maggie put the puppy down on her belly and stroked her head absently, trying to figure out what to name her.

But then her mommy was at the door. Maggie hadn’t noticed her standing there watching her girl bond with her new best friend and remembering the first dog she ever had when she was about Maggie’s age. She was proud of her daughter for putting so much consideration into naming her puppy.

“Hi, Mommy!”

“Hi, Maggie. You don’t look like you’re ready for the party. Uncle Neil and Aunt Terri will be here soon. Do you want them to see how messy your room is?”

“Oh, no! Mommy, I promise I’ll get ready now!” exclaimed Maggie as she jumped up and started collecting her books.

Before her mommy turned around to go to the kitchen and check on the lasagna in the oven, she asked, “Do you have any ideas for New Puppy’s name yet?”

“Well I was just thinking about Guadalupe  because that’s my best friend Selena’s mommy’s name and she’s so nice, but then I don’t think New Puppy looks like a Guadalupe!” said Maggie.

Her mommy scrunched up her nose and said, “No, Guadalupe doesn’t seem quite right. Maybe Uncle Neil and Aunt Terri can help you name her.”

Maggie jumped up and down, clapped her hands, and said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah! I bet they can help! I can’t wait til they get here!”

Her mommy gave her a high five and said, “Well you’d better finish cleaning up and getting dressed.”

Her mommy closed the door so she could get dressed in privacy and Maggie picked up her puppy and squeezed her tightly. “Puppy, puppy, puppy! Let’s get ready. Our guests will be here soon!”

She carefully gathered up her books, making sure that none were upside down and placed them neatly on her blue plastic shelves. She made up a song about straightening up her room with her puppy as she arranged her stuffed animals on the white brass doll bed that looked identical to her own bed, then she shimmied out of her Beauty and the Beast nightie and pulled on her sunflower romper and brushed her hair.

She threw her door open and yelled, “Mommy! Can you braid my hair and use the sunflower scrunchie?”

Her mommy braided her hair and just as she finished, Uncle Neil and Aunt Terri showed up.

“You’re here!” Maggie shouted, ran into Uncle Neil’s arms, and wrapped her legs around his belly.

He walked over to the couch and sat down while she was chattering about school, Selena, waking up early one Saturday morning to get New Puppy, and her books. He listened intently, never tuning out the ramblings of the five year old, and then mesmerized her by pulling a quarter out of her ear and saying, “There’s more where that came from.”

She was so excited about this trick that she was momentarily silent, staring at the quarter and feeling around her ear for more.

Aunt Terri took that moment to swoop in and present Maggie with a brand new book: Madeline’s Rescue.

She snuggled up between them and said, “Can we read it? Can we read it?”

Uncle Neil put his arm around her and said, “Of course!”

Maggie began, “In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”

She loved the book and the dog that saved Madeline. She glanced over at New Puppy when she read, “She could sing and almost talk and enjoyed her daily walk,” she cried when the dog was kicked out of the school, and clapped when she was found.

When they finished reading, Maggie hugged Uncle Neil and Aunt Terri.

“I know what to name New Puppy! She will be Miss Genevieve! And maybe she has quarters in her ear too?”

“Well, she’s so little, Maggie. I bet Miss Genevieve has nickels instead of quarters,” said Uncle Neil.

Maggie climbed into Aunt Terri’s arms and told them she loved her book and them and Miss Genevieve.