A Dog Called Homeless

A Dog Called Homeless is a children’s book by UK-based best-selling author Sarah Lean. Told from the point of view of fifth-grader Cally Fisher, the story tackles delicate themes of dealing with the loss of a parent, being unhoused, and the different ways in which the families of children with disabilities live, love, and overcome various obstacles in life. Originally published in 2012, the book received The Schneider Family Book Award for Middle School Books the following year.

This guide uses the 2012 edition of the novel, published by Katherine Tegen Books.

Plot Summary

A Dog Called Homeless follows fifth-grader Cally Fisher as she faces significant change and grief after her mother’s death. On her Dad’s birthday, which is also the first anniversary of her mom’s death, Cally and her family visit the cemetery. No one speaks about Mom since it’s too difficult for Dad to talk about her. While they stand around the grave, Cally sees Mom in the distance, wearing her red raincoat and green hat. Cally asks her family if they see her, but no one else does.

Cally is still adjusting to the changes in her life. At school, she has more difficulty paying attention in class, and her best friend, Mia, spends all her time with another girl, Daisy. The only good change is that Cally sees Mom again. This time, she has a giant, gray Irish Wolfhound dog with her. Even though no one else can see Mom, the dog is real and has chosen Cally to love.

When one of her teachers announces that the school will observe a sponsored silence to raise money for charity, Cally sees it as an opportunity to prove what she can do. Her teachers, classmates, and even her father doubt she can stay quiet the whole day. Cally takes this as a personal challenge, and since no one seems to care whether she talks, she decides to stay silent indefinitely.

A few days after the sponsored silence, Dad takes Cally and her older brother, Luke, into town. While he goes into the bank, Luke walks into a game store, and Cally sits on a bench. Across the street, she sees a group of boys picking on an unhoused man named Jed. A woman from the nearby bakery emerges to shoo them away. She gives Cally, who has walked over to the scene, a few pastries to hand to Jed.

He looks at her kindly, but Luke comes out and pulls Cally away from the man before he can say anything. Dad has told them both to never give anything to people who are unhoused, claiming they made choices that led to their situation. Luke tries to tell Dad what Cally did, but Dad is distracted.

Dad needs to tell them something else but stalls by taking them to the park, where Cally sees the dog again, next to Jed and a sign that reads “Homeless.” She decides to call the dog Homeless. As they’re about to leave the park, Dad tells them his work is making significant cutbacks, and he can no longer afford their house. They must sell it and move to an apartment.

The family has a hard time adjusting to this change. Cally refuses to unpack her boxes, and Luke voices his anger at Dad. Dad realizes they have much less room, so he packs up boxes of things that remind him of Mom and tells Luke to put them away. He doesn’t, so Cally drags them to a shed outside the apartment, where she makes a secret hideaway of her own. She starts to decorate the walls with photos of her family and drawings of Mom and Homeless.

Luckily, they have kind downstairs neighbors at the new apartment. Mrs. Cooper lives below them with her son, Sam, who is about Cally’s age. Sam is blind and mostly deaf, and over time Cally learns how to communicate with him in different ways, such as using a deafblind alphabet and braille. They become fast friends and start to explore outside together. They discover an abandoned park called Swan Lake, where Jed and Homeless are living. The lake is tempting to Sam, whose greatest wish is to learn how to swim. However, Mrs. Cooper forbids it, worrying that it’s too much for him because he has asthma and a heart murmur.

Over time, Dad starts to worry about Cally’s silence. He tries everything: He takes her to the doctor, talks to her teachers, and gets her a tape recorder to use, but nothing works. What Cally wants most is for Dad to acknowledge and honor Mom’s memory. She fears he’s erasing her, and she won’t speak until he faces his grief with her and Luke. Dr. Colborn, who comes to investigate Cally’s silence, definitively determines that she’s practicing silence by choice and waiting for something specific to happen before she’ll speak again. Cally initially worries that this woman will be harsh and difficult to follow but ends up loving the woman and looks forward to their interactions.

The fifth-grade class is preparing for their end-of-term farewell concert. Cally loves music, like her mom did. Dad doesn’t play his guitar anymore, Mia wants to sing with Daisy instead, and Cally isn’t speaking or singing. Mr. Crisp, the music teacher, reminds her that Mom was proud of her for learning her lines and songs to play Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web and says Mom had a surprise planned for her last year when she played the lead in Olivia!, a girl version of the musical Oliver!. However, no one ever knew what the surprise was because Cally’s mom died in a car accident a few days before the show, and Daisy replaced Cally as Olivia. Cally appreciates Mr. Crisp for talking about her mom but continues her silence.

Eventually, Dr. Colborn comes to Cally’s school to watch her and form her own opinions about Cally. She tells Cally that these things take time and that she hopes Cally has someone, such as a pet, to confide in until she decides to start talking again. Luckily, Cally has an unofficial pet: Homeless.

The teachers learn that Homeless is showing up at the school and order the dogcatcher to collect him during the next concert practice. Cally hears him howling while the group is singing and rushes outside to quiet him. She tries to take him off the school grounds, but the dogcatcher takes Homeless away. When Jed and Sam learn what happened, they start planning to get Homeless back.

The pound requires proof of ownership and some money, so Jed cleans himself up and starts to perform as a juggler for donations in front of the local music shop. Luke’s friend Rachel joins in the performance, borrowing a drum to play. Cally recalls how her mom always said music brings people together, and she realizes how true that is as she watches the crowd form around them that day.

Jed raises enough money and returns Homeless to Cally. Dad is furious to see the dog back at the apartment after he said they can’t keep him. Jed reveals that he met Mom the day she died. He found her at the car crash, and she gave him a small Irish Wolfhound puppy, who grew up to be Homeless. He’s been searching for the family ever since so that he could give the dog to its rightful owners. Dad says nothing and leaves the group in silence.

Cally wants to tell Sam about Jed’s story, but when she goes to find Sam, he’s gone. Realizing that his swimming bag is gone, she races outside into the rain and toward Swan Lake. Sam is in the lake trying to swim. Cally goes in after him, bracing herself against the rough waves. She pulls Sam up to a small stump, but he’s too weak to swim to shore. Cally finally uses her voice, calling out for Dad. Homeless jumps in to help, followed shortly by Dad, who pulls them all to safety.

At the hospital, the doctors keep Cally overnight but tell Dad she’ll be okay. She tells Dad everything that has happened, and he listens, willingly and lovingly. Sam must stay in the hospital longer but eventually comes home too. Dad lets Cally keep Homeless, who wanders in and out of the Fishers’ and Coopers’ apartments as he pleases: Both families are happy to have him around.

Cally gets to sing the solo she planned to sing in Olivia! last year. She sees Mom one final time, but Mom isn’t wearing the red raincoat. Cally sings while Dad accompanies her on guitar. The family is on the path toward healing, with a little help from music, the community, and a dog called Homeless.