A Dog Called Homeless

by Sarah Lean

Being a dog-lover, the cover-page caught my eye. The font size and the spacing between the sentences makes this a comfortable book for children to read. This beautiful book introduces children to the need of care and love for other living beings.

The book begins rather solemnly.

“My name is Cally Louise Fisher and I have not spoken for 31 days…”.

As the story progresses, we find out this story is about a little girl who lost her mother at an early age and she starts seeing her everywhere she goes. Dressed in a red raincoat, her mother appeared in the cemetery, school ground and other places. Add to this, a friendly wolfhound also made appearances often in unexpected places.

She tries to tell her family members about seeing her mum with the hound, but no one seems to understand her. Meanwhile Cally participated in the sponsorship program for silence held at school and took it rather seriously. Cally moves into a new neighbourhood and becomes best friends with Sam, who is dumb and deaf. We later come to find out that a homeless man named Jed is the owner of the wolfhound. He holds the key to the recovery of her family from her mother's death.

Cally names the wolfhound Homeless. Without giving away any spoilers, let me tell you that the story ends with a surprise twist.

Sarah Lean has beautifully portrayed the feelings of a 6^th grade girl who lost mother and successfully shows you how pets can heal your heart. The story is accompanied with fantastic illustrations by Gary Blythe. The book has won Schneider Family Book Award for Middle School Books in 2013.

Age group – 9 yrs – 14yrs

Comments

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