Sarah Lean

On the anniversary of her mother’s death, Cally Fisher sees a ghost. It’s her mother, clear as day, in her bright red raincoat. From that day on, her mother appears whenever Cally needs her, often accompanied by a very large, and very real, scruffy gray hound.

Unable to deal with his own grief, Cally’s father is silent when it comes to remembering Cally’s mother, which makes Cally’s pain even worse. When she tries to talk to him about her mother appearing to her, he doesn’t want show more to hear about it. So after a charity event at Cally’s school, when she—the girl most likely to get caught talking in class—is able to go the whole day in silence, Cally decides not to speak at all anymore.

A Dog Called Homeless is a quiet, gentle read that is beautifully written and deeply touching. Cally’s relationships with her family, her friend Sam, a homeless man named Jed, and the mysterious gray dog, will tug at your heartstrings. The end is tender and satisfying. show less

What's the point of talking if no one is listening? This sentence on the jacket cover was the hook for me.
The Fisher family has really not come to terms with the death of the mother a year before this story starts. Most significantly, the father in the family has not. Cally can no longer manage to live this way and stops talking. It is her friendship with her neighbor Sam, a young boy who is deaf and blind, Jed, who appears to be homeless, and a mysterious but very real dog which ultimately show more saves her and her family.
The friendship between Cally and Sam is at the core of this story and is its highlight. Cally learns to communicate with Sam without speaking and also learns to view things a bit differently. She makes some insights that it takes some people a lifetime to realize.
And in the end she is right - What is the point of talking when no one is listening? show less

Sarah Lean's stories, almost always involving animals and a kind of borderline magic realism, aren't well-known in the States but I have quite a few fans of her stories and was pleased to see a new title.

Azi lives on a small, unnamed Mediterranean island. He doesn't fit in - not with the busy, gruff uncle who cares for him, the other village boys who tease him for preferring the sea to soccer, or even the tourists who never stay for long. But Azi knows that everything will be fine when show more Grandfather returns and he's able to go back and live with him. While he waits, he slowly befriends a lost dog, Sandy, and a girl who's visiting but not a tourist. Eventually, he learns the truth behind the secrets of his life, his Grandfather leaving, and how to accept and return friendship.

SPOILERS

It's cloaked in a lot of descriptive language, but eventually readers will learn that Grandfather has a problem with alcohol and inadvertently injured Azi, who is not his biological grandson but was found as a baby in the sea and is probably a refugee, hence some of the village prejudice. Azi deals with guilt, struggles to connect with his busy uncle and the kindly waitress Maria, and with the friendship of Beth he slowly learns that he can be himself even without Grandfather and that his family includes many different kinds of people.

This isn't a white savior story; Beth struggles just as much as Azi and her longing for friendship and feelings of displacement, while acknowledged, are clearly shown to be very different from Azi's experiences. Both she and Avi handle their problems in different ways and while they grow to be close, there's always the knowledge that Beth will eventually leave and Azi needs to reconnect with his own family, even though he can keep the connections he's forged with Beth.

Verdict: For sensitive readers who like Lean's other titles, this is a satisfying and beautiful story of family and friendship.

ISBN: 9780008327583; Published July 2019 by HarperCollins Children's Books; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library show less

This book, aimed at the 8-12 market, is a deceptive read. Its title suggests it’s going to be a sweet animal story (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but it’s so much more. It focuses on how Cally and her family are adjusting to life without her mother but with the introduction of other characters shows how important it is to look beneath the surface of people. There are some lovely characters, I particularly liked the sensitive way Cally’s grieving father was portrayed and show more the friendship developed between Cally and Sam. This is definitely a book I’ll be recommending. show less