Charlie's Checklist by Rory S Lerman illustrated by Alison Bartlett

Tuesday Treasure

Charlie lives in the country but he is sure he should move to the city. 

"When he was old enough to use the phone and write with a black pen he sent an ad to a London Newspaper."

Wait a minute - who is Charlie? You need to see his ad:

SIX WEEK OLD PUPPY

Young, naive and irresistible looking for a suitably enthusiastic owner. 

Must be under twelve and wear glasses. Applicants please send photo and references.

The envelopes start to arrive - so many Charlie has to hire an assistant to help him. Luckily Chester lives nest door. Charlie has known Chester since the night he was born. Together they sort all the letters into piles of no and maybe. As Charlie reads each letter he adds to his checklist:

• Must have room for me
• Must be kind to animals
• Must provide me with a stable home

Finally the perfect letter arrives. Naomi lives in the penthouse on the fifteenth floor. She promises to take Charlie to museums and the theatre and share eggnog at Christmas. Chester offers to help Charlie pack but oddly Chester seems quite downcast so Charlie takes another look at his checklist. 

"Charlie knew why Chester was dragging his feet. His tail dropped between his legs and he felt very silly having overlooked his best friend of all."

The checklist needs changing: "Must wear red and white striped dungarees, must be four feet three inches tall, must like playing ball and must have five freckles on each cheek." Charlie has finally found the perfect friend and the perfect place to call home.

Charlie's Checklist is one of my Tuesday treasures. These are older books mostly out of print that I enjoyed sharing in my former library. Today I visited a charity book sale where I picked up heaps of terrific books for bargain prices. Charlie's Checklist (1997) only cost $1. Here is a video of the whole book. In the interests of full disclosure I should probably mention my childhood dog (and best friend) was also called Charlie.  I would pair Charlie's Checklist with Care of Henry which is another book which explores the idea of creating a checklist along with the love of a special dog:

Another companion read is this gem - Wanted: The perfect pet.

Here are a couple of other books illustrated by Alison Bartlett which you may find in a well stocked library.