Tobi – a 15-year-old silky terrier with scruffy brown hair and long whiskers — walked happily alongside his owner and best friend, Andrea Cáceres in New York City one day this past August.

He didn’t flinch when traffic sounds from the nearby street spilled into the neighborhood park, or when an ambulance with blaring sirens whizzed by.

“He’s a real New Yorker,” Cáceres laughed.

But the little dog wasn’t always so familiar with the big city. Cáceres’ new children’s book, Hello, Tobi! is a celebration of Tobi’s walks in the parks when he first arrived in New York.

Tobi was born in Valencia, Venezuela. Back then, Cáceres was planning to become a civil engineer. “While I was studying, I started illustrating,” she said. “And I started illustrating Tobi.”

Without ever taking a single art

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