By Lisa Mantchev
A boy and his tiny pet elephant get turned away from the Pet Club, so they round up the other children with unusual pets and start a club of their own, where everyone belongs.
The trouble with a pet elephant is that there are no sidewalks his size, and today is Pet Club day. The boy and his little elephant lift each other over the cracks and get to the meeting, where a sign on the door says 'Strictly No Elephants.' They're turned away. Walking home, hurt and left out, the boy meets a girl who's just been turned away too — her pet is a skunk. So the two of them go gather up every child with an unusual pet and start a club of their own, with one rule: everyone belongs. A hedgehog, a bat, a narwhal, a skunk, and one elephant.
It says the hard part without softening it: sometimes you get left out, it isn't fair, and it stings. But it doesn't leave the boy standing there. He doesn't beg his way back into the club that shut the door on him. He goes and builds a better one, and brings the other left-out children with him. For a child fresh off a 'you can't play,' that's a genuinely different idea about what to do next. Some will feel the whole thing land just from watching the odd pets pile into the new club.