How to Steal a Dog

How to Steal a Dog
by Barbara O'Connor

How to Steal a Dog
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Book Summary Information

Author: Barbara O'Connor
Brand: Square Fish
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-04-27
ISBN: 0312561121
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Square Fish
Product features:
  • ISBN13: 9780312561123
  • Condition: New
  • Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

Book Reviews of How to Steal a Dog

Book Review: Mixed messages here
Summary: 4 Stars

"How to Steal a Dog" is such a catchy little title with such a cute little dog posed against the cheeriest of colors that I assumed humor would jump off the pages. Not so. Actually, I initially missed that dog bone tied to a string. All is not as it appears. Be forewarned: This is a sad book. Even the conclusion, which reverses the terrible existence of one family's homelessness, is sad. But that's the point: The numbing reality of too many Americans is homelessness.

Another numbing reality is the woman whose husband runs off, leaving her with the children and all the responsibility. An already poor circumstance soon renders a woman on the streets, or in this case, living in their car. Georgina, the character through whose viewpoint we access the story, is so embarrassed that she won't tell her best friend. When she does, the friend deserts her, treating her, more or less, like an untouchable.

Georgina and her brother pretty much fend for themselves because the mother works two jobs. To deflect suspicion about a parked car in one place too long, the mother parks in a new spot each morning before she goes off to work and the children to school.

To help raise enough money for a real home--an apartment, house, whatever, it doesn't matter--Georgina makes a plan to dog-nap a hapless canine and get $500 in reward money. Her thinking is to find a dog whose owner simply cannot do without that companion and is willing to pay reward (think: ransom, extortion, rescue) money. She and her brother walk around until they find what appears to them to be a really nice house, the only one, in a run-down neighborhood. Yes, I thought that, too--What's wrong with this picture? One large house in a declining neighborhood. What Georgina sees is that the name on the mailbox and the name of the street are the same: Eureka! This must be a rich family!

So go all the decisions made by one desperate little girl in a desperate situation. And that's the author's point. There's nothing humorous about this book. It is a desperate story of desperation. With each decision and new act, Georgina buries herself into a deeper morass of immoral, unethical, unkind behaviors. The reader is left, drifting in a sense of dread, wondering how the story will end, how the girl will abandon this horrible plot of getting reward money off the woes of another terribly sad human being. The end cannot be good, the reader thinks.

It is and it is not. The conclusion left me drained, powerless to help the girl, the dog, or the owner. I know, I know, it's only fiction, but good writers can give us the truest truths in fiction, stories wiped clean of extraneous content, baring only the sordid reality--in this book--of homelessness and, almost as bad, one awful decision after another. What I advise is that each child who reads this book sit down and discuss it with an adult who has also read it.

This novel is not a classic in the classic sense, but "How to Steal a Dog" is worthy of reading because it yields itself to great discussion. It is recommended for readers ages 9-12. Middle school is definitely an appropriate place. In fact, I would love to be in a classroom whose focus is this book and listen to discussion or study products (power point, posters, glogs, a blog discussion--anything but a traditional book report) to assess the moral climate of that discussion and how the teacher connects.

Summary of How to Steal a Dog

Half of me was thinking, Georgina, don?t do this. Stealing a dog is just plain wrong. The other half of me was thinking, Georgina, you?re in a bad fix and you got to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of it.

Georgina Hayes is desperate. Ever since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment, her family has been living in their car. With her mama juggling two jobs and trying to make enough money to find a place to live, Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby. And she has her heart set on improving their situation. When Georgina spots a missing-dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is ?borrow? the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward. What happens next is the last thing she expected.
 
How to Steal a Dog is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

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