A review by lbailey
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor
5.0
What a fantastic book. How to Steal a Dog is told from the first person perspective of Georgina, a young girl who’s family has recently become homeless. She comes up with a plan to steal a dog, and then when the owner posts reward signs she’ll return the dog and collect the reward money. She plans to give the money to her mother to help with finding a new place to live.
The book does not sugar coat. Georgina, her little brother Toby, and their mother live in their car. They wash up in gas station restrooms and eat whatever their mother can scrounge up between her low paying jobs. Georgina is picked on at school, her best friend stops speaking to her, and her classmates clearly notice her rumpled and dirty clothes and matted unwashed hair. Her mother expresses her despair and Georgina lashes out. Some parts are TOUGH.
But this book has opened my kids eyes to what homelessness means, and that people are struggling with things all the time that we know nothing about.
The book does not sugar coat. Georgina, her little brother Toby, and their mother live in their car. They wash up in gas station restrooms and eat whatever their mother can scrounge up between her low paying jobs. Georgina is picked on at school, her best friend stops speaking to her, and her classmates clearly notice her rumpled and dirty clothes and matted unwashed hair. Her mother expresses her despair and Georgina lashes out. Some parts are TOUGH.
But this book has opened my kids eyes to what homelessness means, and that people are struggling with things all the time that we know nothing about.