Rights sold:

Italy Uovonero / Germany Thienemann Verlag / Turkey

XXX Ala Delta Children’s Literature Award. Edelvives, 2019
White Ravens, 2020
Recommended by Fundación Cuatro Gatos, 2021
Strega Ragazze e Ragazzi Award, 2023

Lilo is a dog with the beautiful head of a German shepherd and a chubby body with short legs. He is in love with Muriel, a dog he sees passing by his doorway, but Lilo hides behind the garden wall to admire her without her seeing his small body.

But Lilo doesn’t just live for love: he also worries about his human, an eleven-year-old girl who cries locked in her room and gives off a smell of sadness that he cannot understand. When her parents leave her in the care of her grandparents, Lilo decides to find out what is tormenting her.

To do so, he will have to trust a dog who writes terrible poetry, a stray, and the mysterious cat Berenice. Together, Lilo will face his own fear: that Muriel will discover his short legs.

Moved by love for his human pack, Lilo will embark on a frightening adventure that includes sneaking into other people’s houses, spying on a Swedish orphan girl, and undoing a sad and useless enmity fueled by the abuse of technology.

The smell of happiness. The smell of sadness. The smell of fear… Thanks to his extraordinary sense of smell, Lilo will not only discover what is happening to his human, but he will also reflect on the strange reactions of humans and the way they treat each other in a world full of wonders and emotions.

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