A magical, uplifting and heartwarming tale of friendship between a chipmunk, a dog, and a special child, along with a coterie of whimsical animals, Kudzu’s Enormous New Life is a feast for all the senses and a testimony to the redeeming power of love. Brimming with wisdom, this enchanting novel shows us how humans and animals can live in harmony and thrive, while learning from one another.

—Hélène Cardona, author of Dreaming My Animal Selves and Life in Suspension

Meet Victoria, a Monarch butterfly with an exquisite vocabulary, Ophelia the opossum, Quincy the German Shepherd, Stanley the mouse, Kudzu, a friendly chipmunk with an acorn cap, and Owen, a little boy on the Autism spectrum and the only human who understands Kudzu. They all live on the Weatherby’s Mississippi farm.

But chipmunks aren’t good for Mrs. Weatherby’s spider lilies, so when Mr. Weatherby comes after Kudzu with a hoe, Kudzu’s world turns upside down.

Kudzu makes new friends, even with old enemies, in this charming, beautifully illustrated tale about unlikely friendships, faith, forgiveness, and Kudzu’s search for home and family. Think E.B. White and Beatrice Potter. Kudzu’s Enormous New Life will be a classic.

—Margaret McMullan, author of Where the Angels Lived and How I Found the Strong

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Anything can happen in life once you allow your mortal enemy to set you free.

That is exactly what happens on an idyllic Mississippi farm when Quincy, a stray German shepherd, attempts to catch Kudzu, a precocious chipmunk living beneath the Weatherbys’ flowers. Mr. Weatherby will do anything to rid his farm of these pests, but that will leave their three-year-old grandson, Owen, who is on the autism spectrum, to lose the only friends he has who understand him. Discovering their common interests and goals in the frightful woods bordering the farm, Kudzu and Quincy unite as friends and concoct a plan to win the trust and affection of the Weatherbys so that they can return to the farm and live in peace once and for all, before winter comes!

Reminiscent of E. B. White’s classic novels, Kudzu’s Enormous New Life by Sidney Thompson offers life lessons for parents and children of all ages, including developmental differences, faith, forgiveness, constructive progress, reciprocity, stewardship of the earth, and the myriad of ways humans and animals communicate. Let’s strive for a life like Kudzu’s—one that is big, bright, and happy as flowers because we’re sensitively attuned to life’s full spectrum!