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| | Gravel for Dessert |
 | | Sascha is 4, I am not, and Iguana is the heroine of ''The Night Iguana Left Home,'' by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Ponder Goembel, a book we are reading in the shade of an ylang-ylang tree. |
 | | Iguana's story is a familiar one: she was living contentedly in Schenectady, N.Y., at the home of her ''friend and almost sister,'' Alison Frogley, who provided a closet with a heating pad, a free library card, a personal e-mail address and plenty of anchovy pizza. |
 | | Nowadays, Alison mails Iguana to Key West in a very long (six and a half feet) box containing a heart-shaped pillow embroidered Iguanna, and twice a year Iguana mails herself back for a visit with her true friend. |
| partners.nytimes.com /books/00/02/13/reviews/000213.rv095206.html (377 words) |
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