Duke & Toby’s Weekend Away: A Story About Friendship, Expectations, and Being Truly Seen

When Duke and Toby spend a weekend at a countryside dog daycare, Toby quickly notices one dog everyone seems to admire.Bella is beautiful, graceful, calm, and impossible to ignore. The other dogs gather around her constantly, eager for her attention. But while the others chase balls, splash through muddy puddles, and race wildly across the yard, Bella always seems to stay carefully on the sidelines.Toby can't understand why.As the daycare grows quiet and the stars begin to fill the night sky, Duke and Toby slowly discover there is far more to Bella than the image everyone sees.Beneath the moonlight, three dogs share honest conversations about expectations, loneliness, and the exhausting feeling of always trying to be who others want you to be.Warm, cinematic, and emotionally rich, Duke & Toby's Weekend Away is a gentle story about friendship, empathy, and the importance of seeing others with kindness and understanding.Perfect for children ages 5-10, this beautifully illustrated story encourages thoughtful conversations about:empathy and compassionsocial pressure and expectationsfriendship and belongingemotional honestylooking beyond appearancesWritten in lyrical prose with emotionally cinematic illustrations, this heartfelt addition to the Duke & Toby series reminds readers that sometimes the dogs who seem happiest on the outside may simply be hoping someone sees the real them underneath.