Buttons the Kitten (My Furry Foster Family) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Characters

  Chapter 1: New Furry Friends

  Chapter 2: Too Shy to Play

  Chapter 3: Blankets and Flashlights

  Chapter 4: The First Adoptions

  Chapter 5: The Last One

  Think About It

  Draw It! Write It!

  Glossary

  A Letter For You!

  About the Author

  About the Illustrator

  Explore More

  Copyright

  Back Cover

  CHAPTER 1

  New Furry Friends

  Ollie played with a tennis ball in my room. He batted it across the floor with his paws, then he chased it. When the ball stopped rolling, he batted it again. He and the ball went back and forth, back and forth.

  “Ollie, stop it,” I said, laughing. “You’re making me dizzy!”

  My goofy mini dachshund wagged his tail.

  I was sitting on my bed, trying to read a book about cats. My family was getting some foster kittens soon. I wanted to learn how to take care of them. I wanted to be ready.

  We adopted Ollie from Happy Tails Rescue last year. Afterward my parents and I decided to become an animal foster family.

  Sometimes animals need homes. Maybe a family has to move away and can’t take their pet with them. Maybe someone finds a homeless animal. Foster families take care of an animal until it finds a forever home.

  I love all animals. It makes me happy to help them!

  I put down my book and snuggled with my old baby blanket. I used to be scared of things like the dark or thunder. My grandma made me the blanket to help me feel safe. It worked! I’m not scared of those things anymore, but I still love Grandma’s blanket.

  “Kaita! Lunchtime!” my dad called.

  Ollie stopped playing. He perked up his ears. He knew that word. Yip! Yip! Yip! He ran to the kitchen.

  When I got to the table, I cheered. We were having tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! Ollie watched as Dad spooned soup into bowls. Ollie always followed Dad around in the kitchen. Dad had a habit of sneaking food to Ollie.

  I sat down, and Mom poured me a glass of milk. She and I pretended not to see Dad give Ollie a piece of cheese. When we were all seated, Ollie curled up under my chair.

  “Are you excited for the kittens?” Mom asked me.

  “I am! How many are we getting?” I asked.

  “Five,” Dad said.

  Five little kittens! I was so excited! I could hardly sip my soup without dribbling. What would they look like and sound like? How big would they be? Would they have names already?

  Just as we finished eating, the doorbell rang. Yip! Yip! Yip! Ollie barked and started to run to the door.

  “Wait, Ollie,” I said. I picked him up and kissed his nose. “You will meet your new friends a little later. I promise.” I put him in my room, closed the door, and hurried to the living room.

  Dad opened the front door. There was Joss, the lady from Happy Tails Rescue. She had a pet carrier slung over her shoulder. It looked like a big purse with netting across it.

  “Hello, Takano family!” Joss said as she walked in. “Kaita, are you ready to meet your new fosters?”

  “I sure am!” I said.

  Joss knelt down and opened up the bag. Out tumbled four tiny kittens. They mewed loudly and tripped over each other. So cute! One was all white. The other three were orange tiger-striped.

  I picked up the white kitten. She started purring.

  “Wait, I thought there were five kittens,” I said.

  Joss peered in the bag. She smiled. “There are,” she said, lifting out the tiniest kitten.

  I hardly got a good look at him before he flipped back inside the bag. Whoops! Joss reached in a second time. She held the kitten firmly with both hands. He was mostly white, with patches of orange.

  “This is Buttons,” Joss said. “He’s very shy.”

  The tiny guy wriggled, squirmed, and dropped back into the bag.

  “We named him Buttons because he is cute and tiny like a button,” Joss said. “You can name the rest of the litter. Please use names that start with the letter ‘B.’ We go through the letters of the alphabet with each foster litter.”

  I smiled. It would be fun to name the kittens.

  “What happened to the mama?” I asked.

  “The owners of the mother cat don’t have room for the kittens,” Joss said. “So thank you for taking care of them. Kittens usually get adopted quickly. I don’t think you’ll have them for long.”

  I peeked in the bag at Buttons. He looked up at me with wide eyes. I was going to make sure he knew I was his friend.

  CHAPTER 2

  Too Shy to Play

  I was excited to name the kittens. I watched them play, and I watched them sleep. I drew pictures of them in my sketchbook.

  The white kitten was the only girl. She was also the bravest. She loved to climb high and then leap into the air, like she was flying. She always landed on her feet. I named her Birdy.

  The three orange tiger-striped kittens looked a lot alike. Each one had something special, though.

  One kitten had four white paws, like he was wearing shoes. Since Joss asked me to pick “B” names, I called him Boots.

  Another kitten had a tiny spot of white on his head. It was shaped like a bean. I called him Bean.

  The third orange kitten was so friendly. He liked to follow us around the house, wherever we went. I called him Buddy.

  I tried to coax Buttons from his carrier, but he wouldn’t come out. When I reached in, he squirmed like a worm. He slipped out of my hands and ran back into the bag.

  “Let’s leave him be for now, Kaita,” Mom said. “Give him time to get used to us.”

  The other four kittens made themselves at home. The three orange ones climbed up Dad’s pant legs and made him laugh. They crawled all over him. So funny! Birdy climbed a pile of Mom’s books and leaped into the air.

  We let Ollie meet the kittens after dinner. I got him out of my room and told him the rules.

  “No barking, Ollie,” I said. “You don’t want to scare the kitties. Please play nice.”

  Ollie licked my cheek. He wagged his tail. He was always such a good little boy.

  Mom set up a playpen. She put the kittens inside. They mewed and crawled all over each other—except one. Buttons hid in the carrier.

  As soon as I put Ollie on the floor, the kittens stopped playing. They watched Ollie, their whiskers twitching. It didn’t look like they were scared at all.

  Ollie didn’t bark. He slowly walked up to the playpen and stuck out his nose. Birdy quickly batted it, and I gasped. Ollie just wagged his tail.

  “He’s being so sweet,” Mom said.

  “I knew he’d make a good foster brother,” I said proudly.

  Mom opened the playpen. The kittens tumbled out. Ollie stood still as all four piled on top of him. They used him like a climbing toy.

  I went to the pet carrier and peeked in. Buttons stared up at me. His whiskers twitched, then he scooted back and got as far away from me as he could. He tucked himself into the far corner.

  “Oh, Buttons. It’s OK,” I said. “I’m nice. I really am.”

  I reached in and carefully picked him up. Once again he squirmed and wiggled. I tried to hold on, but he slipped from my hands. He z
ipped under the couch.

  “He’s just not ready to meet us yet,” Dad said.

  Mom showed the other kittens to the litter box in the laundry room. Dad fed them dinner in the kitchen.

  Ollie seemed very interested in the cat food. I wasn’t surprised, though. He eats just about everything!

  “Sorry, buddy,” Dad told Ollie. “I already snuck you some cheese tonight. Kitchen’s closed.”

  Mom, Dad, Ollie, and I played all evening with the kittens—except Buttons. He stayed hidden. No matter how much we tried to coax him, he did not want to join in.

  I made a tower of pillows for Birdy to climb. She jumped from the top of the pile and landed on the carpet on all four feet. Ta-daa!

  Mom dragged a long piece of string along the ground for Buddy. She snapped it back and forth. Buddy got dizzy chasing it.

  Dad gave Bean and Boots a fuzzy toy mouse to share. The kittens took turns snatching it from one another. The kittens were little, but boy, were they fast!

  At bedtime I picked up Boots, and Mom picked up Bean and Birdy. Buddy followed us to the laundry room, where the kittens would sleep. Mom and I tucked them in their nest of blankets.

  Dad got on his belly and gently pulled Buttons out from beneath the couch. Buttons fell right asleep with his littermates.

  “Good night, sweet kittens,” I said, closing the door. The next day I would try to show Buttons he had nothing to be afraid of.

  CHAPTER 3

  Blankets and Flashlights

  The next morning I ran to the laundry room. I wanted to check on our new foster kittens.

  The door was open a tiny bit. I guessed I hadn’t shut it all the way the night before. I peeked into the room and—no kittens! Oh no! They had gotten out!

  I checked the kitchen and dining room first. No kittens.

  I checked the living room next. Thankfully all the kittens were playing on the couch—all except Buttons.

  I went back to the laundry room to look for him. He wasn’t there.

  I looked in the carrier. He wasn’t there either.

  I looked all over the house, but I couldn’t find Buttons.

  Yip! Yip! Yip! Ollie stood in my bedroom and barked at my bed.

  “Did you find him, Ollie?” I asked.

  A furry tail flicked back and forth under my old baby blanket.

  “No, Buttons,” I said, walking over to him. “That is my favorite blanket from when I was a baby. It’s very special. My grandma made it for me.”

  I lifted off the blanket. Buttons dashed out of the room.

  “Sorry!” I called after him. “There are tons of other blankets in the house you can have!” I hid my blanket in my closet.

  “What are you sorry for?” Dad asked, walking into my room.

  “It’s nothing,” I said. “What’s up?”

  “I just talked with Joss,” Dad said. “She was happy to hear that the kittens got along with Ollie. That means people with cat-friendly dogs can adopt the kittens.”

  “Good,” I said.

  Dad looked me in the eye. “Kaita, is everything OK?” he asked.

  “Buttons found my special blanket from Grandma,” I said.

  “Oh. Well Buttons is very shy,” Dad said. “Maybe the blanket will help him, like it used to help you when you got scared.”

  I shook my head. I did not want to share my blanket.

  Dad put his arm around my shoulder. “Joss told me that it will be hard to find Buttons a forever home if he doesn’t like people,” he said.

  “I know. I’ll find a way to help him,” I said.

  I went into the living room to look for Buttons. Three kittens were playing. Birdy pounced on Bean. Boots chased a scrap of paper. Buddy slept on Mom’s lap while she read.

  Buttons wasn’t behind the couch. He wasn’t in the kitchen.

  “Buttons?” I called. “Where are you?”

  I looked in one room, then the next, and the next. I finally found him in the laundry room. He was hiding under some clothes in the laundry basket. I lifted a shirt. Two big eyes peered up at me.

  “It’s OK, Buttons,” I said. “I just want to be your friend.”

  I got my sketchbook and sat on the floor across from him. I didn’t sit too close. I gave him his space. I started drawing pictures of all five foster kittens.

  I was on my fifth drawing when I felt something on my foot. I looked up. There was Buttons! He was out of the basket, sniffing my toe. I stayed very still.

  Suddenly Dad laughed loudly in the other room. Buttons froze, his eyes wide. Seconds later he dived back into the laundry basket.

  “Buttons, that was just Dad laughing,” I said, crawling over to the basket. “Don’t be scared. You need to get used to sounds in a house. People make lots of different sounds. Please come out.”

  Buttons stayed put.

  I tried to coax him out with a string. I waved a fuzzy toy mouse at him. He just dug deeper into the laundry basket. I brought him a cat treat and left it on the floor. He didn’t come out for that either.

  I looked around the room. I grabbed a flashlight and turned it on. I flashed the light in front of the basket.

  Buttons’ nose poked out.

  I moved the spot of light to the left and right. Buttons pushed his head up out of the clothes. He watched the light carefully.

  Whenever the light moved, Buttons’ head moved. He watched and watched. His paws slowly inched up the edge of the basket until…

  POUNCE!

  Buttons leaped right on the spot of light!

  I moved the light to the door and across the floor. I shined it near the sink and then to the laundry basket.

  Buttons chased the light wherever it went. His paws flew. His tail swished. I was so happy to see him so happy!

  I moved the light near me, and Buttons chased it. I moved it onto my lap, and Buttons climbed up. His fur tickled, so I giggled.

  At the sound Buttons froze.

  He stared at me.

  Then he ran back to the basket.

  “Well, Buttons, I think that was a great start,” I said. “We’ll go slow. A little bit today, and a little bit tomorrow. Pretty soon you’ll want to play all the time!”

  CHAPTER 4

  The First Adoptions

  I played with Buttons as much as I could. He loved the flashlight! He’d forget about being afraid and chase the light all over the place. I always ended playtime with the spot of light in my lap. Buttons would jump onto it and let me pet him. Our shy little boy was getting braver!

  Four days after the kittens arrived, Joss called. She had news. The Kim family would be coming to adopt a kitten. I hoped Buttons would be the one they picked.

  After dinner a grandma, a mom, and two daughters came to our house.

  “We live in an apartment that allows pets,” the mom said. “Missy and Grace are very excited to adopt a kitten.”

  Missy was my age. Grace was younger. They had straight black hair, just like me. They sat down with me on the floor. The kittens crawled all over us—except one.

  Ollie came over to say hello to Missy and Grace.

  “Oh! Your dog has a cool-looking eye!” Grace said.

  Ollie has what looks like a small moon in his left eye. I love it! “We call it his moon eye,” I said.

  Boots pawed at the toy Missy was holding. She lifted him up into her arms. He purred.

  “I like this one, Mama,” Missy said.

  Mrs. Kim smiled. “He looks sweet,” she said. “A playful kitten would be good, but not one that climbs everything.”

  “If you want a kitten that doesn’t climb on everything, you should pick Buttons,” I said.

  I went to get Buttons from the laundry room. The girls followed me.

  “Cute!” Grace said when she saw him.
She reached out, but before she could pet him, Buttons squirmed out of my grip. He hid in a pile of laundry.

  Grace frowned. “He doesn’t like us,” she said.

  “No, it’s not you,” Mom said from the doorway. “He’s just very shy.”

  “I think we’ll take this one,” Mrs. Kim said, pointing to Boots. He was still snuggling with Missy.

  After the Kim family left, I went back to the laundry room. I used the flashlight and coaxed Buttons into my lap. He sat quietly for a while. Then a truck rumbled by, and he ran back into the laundry basket.

  “He is doing better,” Mom said. “We just have to keep working at it. There has to be something that will make him feel safe.”

  I thought about my baby blanket, but I didn’t say anything.

  The next day the principal from my school came to our house. “Hi, Ms. Lord,” I said. “Are you here to adopt a kitten?”

  Ms. Lord smiled. “Yes, Kaita. I’d love a kitten. I have a dog named Milo, but he’s friendly with cats. Joss tells me your foster kittens aren’t afraid of dogs.”

  I nodded. “That’s right. They love Ollie,” I said.

  Ollie heard his name and ran into the room. Yip! Yip! Yip! He greeted Ms. Lord and then followed us into the living room.

  Dad pointed to the kittens. They were napping on the couch—except one. I went to get Buttons while Dad showed Ms. Lord the others.

  I couldn’t find him.

  I checked the laundry basket full of clothes. I checked under my bed. I even looked in the trash can! Buttons was nowhere to be found.

  “Kaita!” Dad called from the living room. “Don’t worry about Buttons. Ms. Lord picked Bean!”

  Oh no! I mean, I was happy for Bean, but Ms. Lord didn’t even get to meet Buttons. I started to worry that he would never find a forever home.

  After Ms. Lord left, I found Buttons on the floor of my closet.

  “Hey, you,” I said softly, crawling into the closet. “What are you doing in here?”

  Buttons was lying under the baby blanket I thought I’d hidden. When he saw me, he sat up. The blanket covered his head like a hoodie.