Yoshio Kuroda

A series of short stories all about dogs.

Nello is a boy who lives a poor but happy life, helping his grandfather Jehan to cart milk to the nearby village. He loves drawing pictures, and his dream is to become a painter just like the famous artist Peter Paul Rubens. One day Nello finds Patrasche, a dog that has been abused and abandoned. Nello takes Patrasche into his home and cares for the wretched animal. Over time, boy and dog develop a close friendship and come to depend on one another. Alois, a daughter of the richest family in the village, joins our hero as a sympathetic friend. However, Nello's poverty and his dream of becoming a painter alienate Alois's father and the other villagers. Nello experiences firsthand the cruelty of the people he has grown up with, and must struggle to win their appreciation and respect. With perseverance and determination, this young boy never lets go of his dream no matter the circumstances he goes through.

Poor but happy, young Nello and his grandfather live alone, delivering milk as a livelihood, in the outskirts of Antwerp, a city in Flanders (the Flemish or Dutch-speaking part of modern-day Belgium). They discover a beaten dog (a Bouvier, a large sturdy dog native to Flanders) and adopt it and nurse it back to health, naming it Patrasche, the middle name of Nello's mother Mary, who died when Nello was very young. Nello's mother was a talented artist, and like his mother, he delights in drawing, and his friend Aloise is his model and greatest fan and supporter.

Cast ashore on a desert island after a fierce ocean storm, fifteen school boys find their lives changed forever. Who cut the lines that sent their ship to sea with no captain or crew? Why are pirates after the boys' new-found friend? Will they ever get home again? The excitement unfolds in scene after thrilling scene.

In the future, the oceans have risen to flood all the continents due to humanity's negligence of the environment. Only a few bits of land have been spared, and one of those is the city-island where Elfie lives with her grandfather. One day, due to an underwater incident, she discovers that she can breathe underwater. Her grandfather reveals that in truth she is one of the mythical sea-people. Using the city folk's xenophobia, local politicians spark a war with this hidden people to distract people from their current resource problems, and Elfie is caught in the middle of it.

Peter the fairy, who is head of Placid forest, loves to play with his animal friends. One day "Man" threatens to destroy their homes by cutting down the trees. They decide to peacefully protest but the humans won't listen. With their lives at stake, the animals and Peter carry out their final operation.

The story concerns a homeless boy named Ricky, or Ted in the Japanese version. After seeing a movie about Gulliver he meets Professor Gulliver himself in a forest. Gulliver is now an elderly, space-traveling scientist. With Dr. Gulliver's assistant Sylvester the crow (named Crow in the Japanese edition), and Ricky's companions, a talking dog and a toy soldier, they travel the Milky Way to the Planet of Blue Hope, which has been taken over by the Queen of Purple Planet and her evil group of robots. Armed with water-pistols and water balloons, which melt the villains, Ricky and Gulliver restore Blue Hope to its doll-like owners.