How to Steal a Dog How to Steal a Dog . O'Connor, Barbara; Frances Foster Books, 2007. Grade Level: grades 3-5 ISBN & cost: 979-0-374-33497-0, $16.00 Blanket Permission to Reproduce Book Jackets: Used with the permission of Farrar, Strauss and Giroux |
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Synopsis:
Georgina is doing everything she can to help her family survive since her dad left. She, her mom, and little brother are kicked out of their apartment and forced to live in their car! Georgina comes up with a brilliant plan for making some money: she and little brother Toby will steal a dog, and collect a reward for its return. The idea is that then they will have money to move into a real house. However, Georgia's detailed scheme for stealing the dog doesn't work out quite the way she planned.
General Review:
Anybody who has had to struggle to present a clean face to the world and hide the truth of real circumstances will understand Georgina's predicament. She is not only worrying about going to school in the same clothes several days in a row, or washing up in the MacDonald's bathroom in the morning, but her best friend seems to have found someone she likes better who isn't “unkempt.” This book can help us understand that sometimes we need to look beneath the surface before judging others, and also that sometimes it is important to ask for help when it's really needed.
Themes: Subject areas: Homeless persons – Juvenile fiction; Family problems – Juvenile fiction; Conduct of life – Juvenile fiction; Interpersonal relations – Juvenile fiction; Brothers and sisters – Juvenile fiction; Dogs – Juvenile fiction; North Carolina – Juvenile fiction
Author information:
Contemporary Authors Online Detroit: Gale, 2008. From Literature Resource Center
Free access through the Kansas State Library http://www.kslib.info/ ; then go to databases
http://www.skyways.org/library/databases.html
Author's website: http://www.barboconnor.com/
Discussion Questions: (Standard 3; Benchmark 3)
• Read page 1 of the story aloud. What do we already know about Georgina from just one page of text?
• Was Luanne a good friend to Georgina? She did promise not to tell anyone about Georgina's predicament as she asked, after all. Page 85 says: “Luanne didn't hardly even talk to me all day,” and Georgina thinks that Luanne and Liza are laughing at her. Why do you think she feels this way?
• Teachers and other adults don't always see the problems faced by kids, especially when the students don't ask for help. What problems does Georgina try to face by herself? Why doesn't she ask for help?
• A dilemma is a situation when you are forced to make a choice or decision which may possibly have bad results. One example is when Georgina has to decide whether or not to return Willy without receiving a reward, and then whether to admit what really happened to the dog's owner. Discuss the choices she faces in each dilemma and what the possible results for each might be. What did she choose to do? Explain why you agree or disagree with these decisions.
Activities:
• List the qualities of this story's characters: Georgina, her mother, Toby, and Luanne. How are they displayed? Standard 2 Benchmark 2
• Pretend that you will be interviewing a character from the book. Write at least ten questions that will give the character the opportunity to discuss his/her thoughts and feelings about his/her role in the story. However you choose to present you interview is up to you. Standard 1, Benchmark 3.
• Check out the following websites:
• Helping Families Hopelink http:// www.hope-link.org
• National Coalition for the Homeless http:// www.nationalhomeless.org
Standard 9; Benchmark 1
• Research what is in your town or community that helps homeless or poor families. Find out what these organizations need, then organize a class project to help one of these agencies. Standard 1; Benchmark 3 and 4; Standard 9; Benchmark 1
Similar Books for Further Reading
• Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
• Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs
• Tyrell by Coe Booth
• Monkey Island by Paula Fox
