Rohan Murthy Has a Plan (The Kids in Mrs. Z’s Class #2)

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A creative kid with ambitious dreams of launching his own pet business starts babysitting the class guinea pig in this big-hearted story from an award-winning author.

Rohan Murthy dreams of running a successful business like his creative and kind mom. When Mrs. Z announces that Curiosity Academy needs to raise money for a school garden, Rohan sees the chance to launch his dreams right away! He'll start a pet care company to help the people of Peppermint Falls look after their dogs, hamsters, fish, snakes, lizards . . . anything but cats. With hard work, some glittery posters, and the help of his friends from Mrs. Z's class, Rohan knows he can do a lot for the school garden. 

His parents point out just one small problem: Rohan has never taken care of an animal before. They think he doesn't even like touching animals. (There is a reason cats aren't on his list.) To prove his parents wrong, Rohan volunteers to spend a weekend watching over Honey, the class guinea pig. But Honey appears surprisingly anxious, which makes Rohan nervous as well. When his big dreams meet his secret fears, what will Rohan do? Rajani LaRocca was born in India, raised in Kentucky, and now lives in the Boston area, where she practices medicine and writes award-winning books for young readers, including the Newbery Honor-winning middle-grade novel in verse, Red, White, and Whole. She’s always been an omnivorous reader, and now she is an omnivorous writer of fiction and nonfiction, novels and picture books, prose and poetry. She also co-hosts the STEM Women in KidLit Podcast. Learn more about Rajani and her books at RajaniLaRocca.com and Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at @RajaniLaRocca.            The biggest dog Rohan had ever seen was barreling toward them! It was pulling a teenage girl behind it. The dog had fluffy brown and white fur and a huge brown nose. Drool dripped from its open mouth, filled with huge, pointy teeth. Rohan froze.
            “Tiny! Stop it!” called the girl. She pulled on the dog’s leash, and finally got the dog to stop. “Sit!” she said.
            The dog sat right in front of Rohan's sister Kavya.
            “Oh, can I pet the doggy?” Kavya asked.
            “Sure,” said the girl. “I’m Amanda, and this is Tiny. He’s very friendly. He’s just a puppy, so he sometimes wants to run too fast.”
            That enormous dog was a puppy? Rohan couldn’t imagine how big it would be when it was full-grown.
            “Let him sniff your hand, like this,” Mom said, showing Kavya what to do.
            Kavya reached out, and Tiny sniffed her hand. “Oh! Tiny kissed me,” she said, giggling. She petted the dog’s enormous head. “Good doggy.”
            “Do you have to walk Tiny every day?” Rohan asked while Mom and Dad petted the dog, too.
            “Three or four times a day,” said Amanda. She laughed. “He has a lot of energy.”
            “I’ll bet,” Dad said. “Want to pet him, Rohan?”
            Rohan rubbed the base of this thumb. “You sure it’s safe?” he asked Amanda.
            “Definitely,” she said.
            Rohan held out his hand for the dog to sniff. He closed his eyes as the huge mouth came close.
         The dog touched Rohan’s hand with its wet nose, and Rohan opened an eye. He reached out his finger and brushed Tiny’s head before drawing his hand back again.
         That wasn’t that hard.
            Now Rohan knew how he could raise money for the school garden. Now hHe just needed to turn his idea into a plan.

 

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