Star in the forest / Resau, Laura

Not long after Zitally and her family illegally arrived in the United States, her father was caught and sent back to Mexico. Now her father has been kidnapped and held for ransom. While exploring the forest near their trailer park, Zitally and her friend find a dog. Convinced that it is her father's spirit animal, Zitally begins to believe that caring for the animal is the only way to bring her father home.

After eleven-year-old Zitlally's father is deported to Mexico, she takes refuge in her trailer park's forest of rusted car parts, where she befriends a spunky neighbor and finds a stray dog that she nurses back to health and believes she must keep safe so that her father will return.