Why "The Search for..."?

I got my title from the book The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt. where there is a wonderful quote--

" 'Of course it's silly,' said the Prime Minister impatiently. 'But a lot of serious things start silly.'"

This particular quote stuck out for me as I was reading The Search for Delicious to my kids this past fall, and I put it aside knowing that I would use it somewhere, sometime. It seems like the perfect subtitle to this blog as many of my musing probably are silly, but may turn serious at any moment!

Monday, July 7, 2008

Homeless Families

I should have paired today's book How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O'Connor with my entry on Finding Stinko since they both deal with homelessness. However, Newboy in Finding Stinko is a runaway, on his own in the streets. How to Steal a Dog is the story of a family who loses their home when the father and main provider walks out. Georgina's family lives in the family car while her mother works to earn enough for a deposit and rent. Georgina hates this new life and hits on the idea of stealing a dog, then "finding" it to claim the reward. I can't say that I liked this book; I just hated the idea of a child feeling like she had to commit a crime to put a roof over her head. Still, it is a book that older children could really benefit from reading. It raises all kinds of important questions about morality and values like, is it ever ok to commit a crime?

I did love the beginning. O'Connor quickly hooks her reader with, "The day I decided to steal a dog was the same day my best friend, Luanne Godfrey, found out I lived in a car." It doesn't get much better than that!

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