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Article Title

A Dog Called Homeless

Authors

Liz Kazandzhy

Keywords

Outstanding, Primary, Intermediate, Sarah Lean, Dogs, Parents, Grief, Disabilities, Family

Document Type

Book Review

Abstract

A Dog Called Homeless is a story of a young girl named Cally Fisher who wants nothing more than to feel close to her mother who tragically passed away a year previously, but nobody seems to want to talk about her, especially her father. In school Cally is a bit hyperactive, which has a negative influence on her relationships with both teachers and peers, but her character begins to change the day she volunteers in a “sponsored silence” at school. Though it was designed that participants remain silent for just a few hours, Cally discovers something about silence during that time that makes her continue it for several weeks. Also around this time, she discovers a dog that appears to be a stray but that seems to have both a connection with her and her mom, and her family moves to an apartment where she befriends the blind-deaf neighbor boy, Sam, who she learns to communicate with through a kind of touch sign language. Cally’s persistent silence becomes more and more frustrating to her family and teachers, but at the same time, with the help of Sam and the dog she named Homeless, she learns more and more about herself and slowly comes to terms with her mother’s death. In the end, the book wraps up beautifully with all questions answered and all problems resolved.

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