Schneider Family Book Award

The 2013 winner is “A Dog Called Homeless.” This award is given to an author whose book “embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”  This year’s winner is appropriate for the 9-12 age group. Cally Fisher lives with her father and older brother. Her mother passed away a year ago and the family has not held together well in her absence. Cally starts seeing her mother (her ghost?) and it comforts her while the rest of her life is taking a downturn. She decides to stop talking. She has already had a fight with her best friend. Her father just sold the family house and they’ve moved. The only bright spot is a large dog that appears suddenly and seems to understand her. Now her new neighbor Sam, a boy who is deaf and blind, is another source of comfort. He also seems to understand her without having to speak and without them knowing each other for very long. Perhaps Cally can find a new way to be in the world.