Looking for True

Eleven-year-old Gladys and Jude attend the same school and live in the same worn-down town in the Rust Belt, yet they have never bothered to become friends. Gladys is small and eccentric, a talkative girl who says whatever is on her mind and seems to have swallowed a dictionary. Jude is her opposite, a quiet boy who keeps his thoughts and feelings to himself.

When the two of them notice a new dog on their street being mistreated by its owner, they both see that something is wrong, but they respond differently. Gladys wants to act, while Jude accepts the situation with weary resignation, until the animal disappears. Gladys has already named her True Blue. Searching for her, the pair soon face a serious obstacle: Gladys's father is allergic to dogs, and Jude's mother cannot stand them, so the dog cannot go home with either of them. They hide her in a deserted house at the edge of town.

Keeping the secret grows harder as the children become attached to True Blue and to one another, and the longer she stays hidden, the more difficult the deception becomes. Giving her up would hurt all three of them. Told in alternating points of view, the novel is set in a small Rust Belt town and explores family, identity, and the friendships people can find in unexpected places.