About.com Rating

Introduction

Silence communicates more than words when eleven-year-old Cally Fisher decides to quit talking. One year after her mother’s tragic accident, Cally sees visions of her mom and desperately wants to share memories, but when her Dad moves them from her beloved home and refuses to speak about her mom, Cally decides she’ll start talking when her dad is ready to listen. In Sarah Lean’s debut novel, A Dog Called Homeless, a grieving family must rediscover how to communicate.

It will take a homeless dog, an elderly man, and a new friend to help them figure it out.

Story Line

At 7:04 a.m., Cally Fisher went silent. How did it all start? It began one year to the day of her mother’s death, the same day as her dad’s birthday, when Cally began seeing visions of her mom in a red raincoat accompanied by a large, homeless dog. Gloriously happy to see her mother, Cally eagerly points her out only to discover that mentioning her mother in this way is upsetting her dad. In addition to feeling her father’s resistance to talking about her mother, fifth grader Cally is struggling at school with talking too much in class and being ostracized by former friends.

In a moment born of rebellion and as a last resort, Cally volunteers to participate in her school’s silence auction, which will raise money for a local children’s hospice. To everyone’s surprise, Cally succeeds in keeping silent. Since no one wants to listen to what she has to say, especially her dad, Cally decides she will remain silent until her Dad resolves to talk about her mom.

Resisting the challenges her brother and dad toss her way to get her to talk, Cally is nearly brought to the breaking point when her dad sells the family home and moves them to an apartment on the other side of town. For her own sake, Cally’s made friends with a homeless dog and an elderly transient man named Jed who happens to be close by whenever she sees her mom.

Unfortunately, neither the school nor her dad appreciate the large dog’s presence and refuse to let Cally claim him as a pet, but when she meets 11-year-old Sam, her new next door neighbor, they concoct all sorts of adventures, including rescuing the dog they’ve named Homeless from the pound.

Cally’s content with her comfortable silent existence, but when another tragedy threatens to take away an important person in her life, she must make a critical decision about the power of her voice.

Awards

Sarah Lean received the 2013 Schneider Family Award "for the artistic expression of the disability experience" in the middle school category. The Award is administered by the American Library Association (ALA).

Author Sarah Lean

Sarah Lean debuts as an author with her award-winning book A Dog Called Homeless. Before turning to writing, Lean taught primary school and worked as a page planner. Her varied interests include organic gardening, calligraphy, and studying philosophy and Sanskrit. She lives with her family in England. (Source: The Green House Literary Agency)

My Recommendation

Grief, a byproduct of love, is managed in a myriad of ways. For Cally, talking about her mom and sharing memories is critical to helping her deal with grief; however, for her dad, whose wife died on his birthday, his manner of dealing with grief is to simply box up his pain along with the memories. In this beautifully rendered story about family communication, a variety of seemingly broken down, homeless and disabled characters discover the ways in which broken hearts and hopes can be healed.
One of the truly endearing characters in this story is Cally. Cally is a sympathetic character who readers instantly care about and one who made my own eyes tear up after I read her introductory paragraph to chapter one. In this lone paragraph Cally compares her talking to the need for rain and reveals to readers ahead of time that her vow to be silent will last thirty-one days.

With this simple introduction, Sarah Lean gently eases readers into the life of a girl desperate to remember her mom and fearful that she will forget. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Cally finds comfort in a large grey dog who keeps appearing, a homeless man who seems to know about Cally’s family and Sam, a neighbor boy who is deaf and blind and who becomes Cally’s best friend and teaches her how to communicate through her silence.

Although predictable and claiming a less than inspiring title, A Dog Called Homeless is a sweet feel-good book that opens the door for discussion about grief, communication, death, and family. The lovely cover art and the engaging, short chapters make this a quick and easy read for kids ages 8-12. (Katherine Tegen Books, HarperCollins, 2012. ISBN: 97800621222098)

Other Recommended Books, From Your Guide to Children's Books, Elizabeth Kennedy

The following are a few of the books that I recommend for middle grade readers. In the first, a dog is an important part of the story. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo is a Newbery Honor Book. The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari and Goblin Secrets by William Alexander are good books for kids who enjoy fantasy. For more recommended books, see Award-Winning Historical Fiction and Video Book Talks: Middle Grade Books.