A Dog Called Homeless

by Sarah Lean

Overview

Praised by Newbery Medal–winning author Katherine Applegate as "graceful" and "miraculous," this Schneider Family Book Award–winning novel tells how one girl's friendship with a homeless dog mends a family's heart.

Cally Fisher knows she can see her dead mother, but the only other living soul who does is a mysterious wolfhound who always seems to be there when her mom appears. How can Cally convince anyone that her mom is still with the family, or persuade her dad that the huge silver-gray dog belongs with them?

With beautiful, spare writing and adorable animals, A Dog Called Homeless is perfect for readers of favorite middle-grade novels starring dogs, such as Because of Winn-Dixie and Shiloh.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062122261
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/07/2014
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	368,245
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.60(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sarah Lean lives in England with her husband, son, and dog. She is the author of A Dog Called Homeless and A Hundred Horses. She has worked as a page planner for a newspaper, a stencil maker, a gardener, and a primary school teacher, among various other things.

Editorial Reviews

Ever so gently, this fine debut effort explores the power of human kindness as Cally and her father find effective ways to cope with their loss. — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

From the Publisher

In this British import, a girl grieving for her dead mother gives up talking when she becomes convinced that what she says doesn't matter. Cally's father never mentions her mom, which seems to deny her existence. Then Cally begins to see her mother--a ghost or wishful imagining?--dressed in a red raincoat and sometimes accompanied by a very large dog that's assuredly not a ghost since he turns up independently at school, in the park and especially with a homeless man, Jed. Cally also meets Mrs. Cooper, a neighbor in their new apartment building who lovingly cares for her blind, nearly deaf 11-year-old son, Sam. Mrs. Cooper, Sam and a psychiatrist all reach out to Cally, each offering wise support, but it's Cally herself, perhaps with the quiet help of her mom, who finds a believable--if a bit miraculous--and highly satisfying resolution. Fifth-grader Cally's first-person voice effectively captures both her suffering and her bewilderment as friends and her father all fail to understand her pain. When she tells Sam she sometimes thinks her mother became a star after she died, he astutely asks, "Why would she go so far away?" giving Cally a comforting new way to think of her mother, much closer to her heart. Ever so gently, this fine debut effort explores the power of human kindness as Cally and her father find effective ways to cope with their loss. (Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews