#MMGM: Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango
ABOUT THE BOOK
A moving novel in verse in which a lost dog helps a lonely girl find a way home to her family . . . only for them to find family in each other along the way.
Titi Silvia leaves me by myself to unpack,
but it’s not like I brought a bunch of stuff.
How do you prepare for the unpreparable?
How do you fit your whole life in one bag?
And how am I supposed to trust social services
when they won’t trust me back?
Laura Rodríguez Colón has a plan: no matter what the grown-ups say, she will live with her parents again. Can you blame her? It’s tough to make friends as the new kid at school. And while staying at her aunt’s house is okay, it just isn’t the same as being in her own space.
So when Laura finds a puppy, it seems like fate. If she can train the puppy to become a therapy dog, then maybe she’ll be allowed to visit her parents. Maybe the dog will help them get better and things will finally go back to the way they should be.
After all, how do you explain to others that you’re technically a foster kid, even though you live with your aunt? And most importantly . . . how do you explain that you’re not where you belong, and you just want to go home?
REVIEW
Laura's life was upended when she called 911 after finding her parents passed out in her house. Now she lives with the aunt she never met and wonders how to fix the mess she feels she made of her life. Laura's discomfort and guilt shines through the lovely free verse as she struggles to adjust to life with her aunt, who is pretty much a stranger, and a rather particular one. She desperately wants to live with her parents but can only contact them through physical letters to which they do not respond. She resents the social worker who doesn't seem to understand or listen to Laura's feelings.
After finally making a friend who has troubles of his own and rescuing a dog, Laura comes up with a plan. She wants to turn her new found dog into a therapy dog and visit her parents. This enjoyable book opened a window for me into what life might be like for a child who's been removed from their home. As with most novels-in-verse, the carefully chosen words highlight the emotions that Laura is wrestling with as she adjusts to a new living situation (she doesn't call it a home), a new school, new friend, and new pet. A thoroughly engaging, empathy-inducing tale that many middle grade readers are bound to love.
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