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bring
lots
of people to the bookstore. And she was a lot of fun. When they had their meetings, Mary always wanted to get the business part out of the way first, so they could move on to playing with the puppies.
    Buddy was getting stronger every day, and all the puppies were growing up fast. Cinnamon could already sit on command, and Cocoa was learning to walk on a leash. All three puppies were eating solid food. They were just about ready for adoption. Lizzie and Charles tried not to think about that too much.
    Dad had been spending hours at the computer, making a mix CD for the party — he
loved
finding just the right songs for any occasion —and Mom had gotten an article into the
Littleton News
about the event. “Publicity!” she had said. “That’s the key.”
    It must have worked, because people had been streaming into Lucky Dog Books ever since the party had started. “You Ain’t Nothin’ But a Hound Dog” was blaring over the sound system. Lizzie and Maria were taking their turn as official greeters.
    “Are you interested in adopting a puppy or a dog?” Maria asked the woman and the boy Lizzie had greeted. “If you adopt today, you get three free vet visits, plus a book about dog training and care.”
    “We’ll definitely take a look,” said the woman. She smiled down at her son. “Jasper has been wishing for a dog ever since he was two years old.”
    “I know exactly how he feels,” said Lizzie, giving Jasper a big wink. “Have fun!”
    Just then, Charles and Sammy came running over. “We just put up three more yellow stickers!” Charles said.
    “Great news,” Lizzie answered. “Our system isreally working well.” She almost hated to admit it, but it was true. At the very first planning meeting, Ms. Dobbins had said they could not have all of the dogs from the shelter at the bookstore. “Too crazy,” she said. “They’ll be barking, and running around, and stealing food. Nobody in their right mind would adopt a dog who was acting like that.”
    Lizzie was disappointed — until Julie came up with the greatest idea. “That poster you and your friend made for the puppies is terrific,” she had said to Lizzie. “If you can make a poster for each dog from the shelter, we can put them up at the bookstore that day. People will get to see what the dogs look like and read about them.”
    “Great idea,” Ms. Dobbins had said. “But there’s one big problem. There’s no way we can let people adopt dogs just from a poster. They really have to meet the dogs.”
    “You’re right,” said Julie. “I’ve been thinking about that. I think I’ve come up with a fun idea. We can have three different stickers on theposters: one can say adopt me; another can say someone’s interested in me; and the last one can say I’ve found a home. The shelter is only a five-minute walk from the bookstore. If people want to go meet the dogs, they can.”
    Now the posters were up — Maria and Lizzie had made the best ones ever — and the party was in full swing.
    So far, there were four red “ I’M A LUCKY DOG! I’VE FOUND A HOME! ” stickers on the posters hanging all around the bookstore. Those dogs were already adopted! Lizzie knew she was going to miss walking them at Caring Paws, but she was happy to know that they had found forever families.
    Charles and Sammy offered to be greeters for a while, so Lizzie and Maria took a walk around the bookstore. There were people reading all the signs and looking at the books for sale, too. Dad’s CD was playing “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”— which meant that the Bean was helping out at the DJ booth. That was his favoritesong lately. Mom was roaming around with her reporter’s notebook. Dr. Gibson was handing out pamphlets about how to keep your dog healthy. Julie and Ms. Dobbins were taking turns over at the animal shelter, introducing dogs to their possible new families.
    “Cool!” said Lizzie, pointing to one of the posters.