For as long as she could remember, Momo had prayed for a very special kind of dog—a red-gold one from Lhasa. Finally, she became the owner of one, which she named Pempa, but her joy was dashed to the ground when the dog was stolen by a wool-trader traveling through her village, in the Jelep La pass of Tibet, on his way to Calcutta.

This story tell how she made the long journey, alone, from her wild mountain home to the steaming coast of India, in search of Pempa. It flows as surely and simply as the faith that carried the small Tibetan girl down the difficult mountain way, among people who did not speak her language, and through varied landscapes and climates between the land of the lamas and the "land of the turquoise plain."

Because the author, Louise Rankin, and the illustrator Kurt Wiese, have both lived there, they have been able to give an intimate portrait, in both text and illustrations, of the mountain pass which was the only route for Momo to follow in her search. They have brought it alive in such a way as to make it almost a character in the story, for its difficulties are a test of Momo's faith and its beauties are her encouragement.

From the dust jacket