Clara and the man with books in his window by Maria Teresa Andruetto illustrated by Martina Trach translated by Elisa Amado

"What does courage mean?' 'Courage is being brave enough 

to live the way you want to, the way you believe."

Before you read this book stretch out the cover and think about the girl, her basket, the distance she is walking and why the colour is yellow - to my eye this denotes a nostalgic memory.

On the title page you will see some very curious objects - with a group of students you could use these to either predict the plot of this book or better yet you could use the objects as student writing inspiration. There is a faded flower in a vase, a book, a clock, two wooden birds, a tiny picture of a house and one item I cannot identify.

The setting for this true story is 1920s Argentina. Clara's mother is a laundress. Clara has the task of delivering laundry to Juan - a man who never leaves his house. Juan is a wealthy man with a huge book collection but he also has deep shame about an event from the past. 

"What is your name?"

"Clara. 

Why are you shut in?"

This is a gentle story or as Mark Macleod once discussed - a quiet book. The illustrations are stunning and so powerful showing a story well beyond the minimal text.

I picked up this book at Gleebooks a few weeks ago because:

• I liked the book shape and landscape format
• There is a medal on the cover (Hans Christian Andersen award)
• The title is intriguing
• The copy I purchased has a dust jacket
• Many pages have no text
• The designer has used two fonts - one for the words in Clara's head and one for conversations with Juan
• This is a translated books (I always look for these) This book was originally written in Spanish in 2018 and the publisher Greystone Books has produced an English edition in 2025. The Spanish title is Clara y el hombre en la ventana.
• Greystone books are a Canadian publishing company - Canadians make fantastic books
• Finally a staff member recommended this book because I asked to see some picture books for older readers and high school students. 

This is the page with the text I quoted at the beginning of this post.

Trach’s illustrative style is so different from what I am used to, I want to own the book just for that.  Andruetto’s story is more one that an adult will enjoy more than a child, so it would have to be read to children.  Kiss The Book Jr

The spare text leaves ample room for illustrations to co-narrrate the story, from the a spread of the girl making letters with a stick to her shadow-like outline as she watches the birds and later reads the books she’s borrowed while making her laundry delivery rounds. They show as well the passage of time as she matures both as a reader and as a friend to the man. Readers imagine the relationship between the dreamy protagonist and her practical, hardscrabble mother, as well as with the absent grandmother who taught her to read and in this way fed her dreams. The entire story has the feel of a fairy tale, one that parallels the fairy tale that the man has gifted her and she has taken to heart. Global Literature in Libraries

The publisher list this book for readers aged 5-8 but I disagree. I would share this book with mature students aged 11+ because it is important to talk about what has happened to this man and why he is afraid to go outside. He didn't follow his friend? Was he afraid of persecution or imprisonment? Older students may understand the role of the Catholic Church during this time. I searched the Canadian library archives for a list of subject headings that have been applied to this book:  Library of Congress Subject Headings Friendship—Juvenile fiction; Identity (Psychology)—Juvenile fiction; Recluses—Juvenile fiction; Gay men—Juvenile fiction; Courage—Juvenile fiction; Books and reading—Juvenile fiction; Argentina—Social life and customs—20th century—Juvenile fiction

And there is a whole art lesson you could use with this book about the symbolism of colour and the use of colour as a way to convey relationships and memories. I guess with younger students this might not be an issue - reviewers like the School Library Journal list this book for K-2.

See more art by Martina Trach here. Just take a look at this brilliant illustration:

Jacket flap information is important! This is how I discovered the author of this book who comes from Argentina, Maria Teressa Andruetto, won the Hans Christian Andersen award in 2012 for Writing. Nearly all of her books are in Spanish. 

Companion books for younger readers and also senior primary students:

The Bridges

The Book of Gold

Nour's Secret Library

Cora Seen and Heard by Zanni Louise

"Do you ever feel like you're living inside a shell? Something hard and impenetrable? You think it's transparent - that people can see you. Then you realise they can't. No one can see you. The real you."

I read this book in one sitting and for an hour or two I was right inside Cora's head listening to her worries and the way she tries to navigate relationships with her peers and her family.

Readers who have had previous experience with books like this - realistic middle grade fiction - are sure to work out the major plot point long before the main character but that just adds to your reading enjoyment as you keep turning the pages desperate for Cora to 'see the obvious' about the old lady who lives just down the road from her new home and also understand why Elle has secrets. 

Just after grandad dies, Cora, her sister Bekah, along with mum Wendy and Dad Hank, have moved from Queensland to a small town in Tasmania. Dad has a talent for renovation, but this project could test him. They have bought an old, run down, disused theatre. In past years this was an important place in the town because it is where the famous jazz singer Clair de Lune once performed. 

Cora finds school difficult - she is always on the outside and she finds it very hard to make friends. Moving to a new school and new town Cora is determined to reinvent herself - moving from Cora 1.0 to Cora 2.0. She does have some ideas about how to do this but once again so many things go wrong. Luckily the kids in her new class, especially Elle, do know how to make a new friend and before long Cora finds herself part of a small team who are chosen to take on a community project. 

Cora 1.0 survived in her previous school by hiding out in the library. When things go wrong in the new school she finds the library again but then the Teacher-Librarian tells her the library is going to be changed into a classroom and there will be no Teacher-Librarian employed next year. Cora knows this has to be her community project. As an aside it is interesting to see which library books are mentioned in this story - Goosebumps; Heartstopper (Young Adult graphic novel); and Okay for Now by Gary D Schmidt. There are also lots of popular culture references to current musicians and bands and television shows such as The Voice. 

Here is some life advice from Cora:

• The louder your voice, the stronger you become.
• Flick your hair confidently as you follow your bestie onto the bus.
• Be amazing. You've got this.
• Find a cause.

Publisher blurb: Cora Lane gets tongue-tied, is often ignored and would rather hide in the library than step onto a stage. However, when her parents decide to renovate an old theatre in small-town Tasmania, Cora realises this is the perfect opportunity for her to reinvent her personality. Enter Cora 2.0, stage left.

When Cora quickly slips back into her old ways and has once again made friends with the librarian. rather than kids her own age, she feels lost. Frustrated she’s not the person she wants to be, she shares her deepest feelings with her imaginary pen pal. The last thing she’d expect is for her letters to go missing. And now, the real Cora Lane is about to go public, but is she ready?

This is one of those books that I have found difficult to pin down in terms of a suggested reader. Soiler alert - Cora does get her first period so that means I would say this book is for 11+. Her sister decides she is bisexual and forms a new relationship with her girlfriend. That means I would say this book is a Young Adult title. It also feels at times there is just one issue to many for the characters to grapple with - Elle has dyslexia; grandma is an alcoholic; and mum is trying to cope with the raw grief of losing her father and helping her elderly mother who now lives over 2000km away. 

The publisher offers this advice: This novel contains references to alcoholism, sexuality, puberty, abuse.

Here is a set of detailed Teacher Notes from the publisher Walker Books Australia. 

Each of these reviews has more plot details:

Brilliant in every way, Zanni Louise has created another amazing novel with a chain of personal stories and happenings about reinvention, loneliness, friendship, and family being the twine that binds things together. Kids' Book Review

Zanni Louise’s latest middle grade book focuses on the confusing feelings young people have at the age of about twelve, when primary school is finishing, when they’re hitting puberty and girls are going through lots of emotional changes and conflicts with friends and family, and where big changes can mean great upheaval – and not just a physical move or change. ... This story is as much about acceptance of the flaws in others as it is about flaws in ourselves, and the coming together of communities to celebrate the past and future. The Book Muse

What a very lovely and warm journey of self-discovery it is, and I am supremely sure that young readers will embrace this one ... Just So Stories

It was rather difficult writing the synopsis of Cora Seen and Heard as it has so many themes, all of which are explored with sensitivity, insight, and cleverly crafted writing. Reading Time

Here is another Australian book with the title Clair de Lune.  You are sure to know the famous music by Debussy but that is not especially relevant to this book because this character Clare de Lune is a jazz singer. I previously talked about another book by Zanni Louise - Queenie in seven moves. 

Companion books:

The Sideways Orbit of Evie Hart

Ode to a Nobody

Fly Me Home by Polly Ho-Yen

In 2017 one of our large chain book stores added this book to their shelves and there it languished until May 2024 when I picked it up for 50% off the original price. SO, I wondered why no one had bought this book? The cover is okay - not very striking but not unappealing. I do know Polly Ho-Yen and I have read three of her previous books but perhaps her name was not a familiar one here in Sydney. The blurb is certainly enticing:

Feeling lost and alone in a strange new city, Leelu wishes she could fly away back home – her real home where her dad is, thousands of miles away. London is cold and grey and the neighbours are noisy and there’s concrete everywhere. But Leelu is not alone; someone is leaving her gifts outside her house – wonders which give her curious magical powers. Powers which might help her find her way home . . .

Polly Ho-Yen does not tell us where Leelu has come from, but we do discover the reason for her father's absence and knowing this you can surmise she has come from Nigeria or another African country where (spoiler alert) same sex relationships are banned. But these themes are not revealed until Chapter 42. Her father has been protesting against these laws.

Leelu and her family move to a new city and a flat in a very poor part of the city. Outside their flat there is a constant pile of rubbish. Mum has to work at night and so Leelu and her older brother Tiber stay home but then Tiber falls into bad company, leaving the house at night to meet up with a street gang so now Leelu (her real name Lillian Elvira Olawale) is left home alone. The neighbours on one side are a huge noisy family of young boys and one little girl named Betsy. Betsy becomes a wonderful friend to Leelu. School is a terrible experience. We are not told explicitly but it is clear Leelu has learning difficulties. Every task is confusing and impossible and so she just stops talking. In fact all the kids at school thing she is unable to speak. 

Early after their arrival at their new flat Leelu finds a small treasure near the garbage bins. When mum says she will toss a coin to decide who claims the bed near the window Leelu rubs her treasure in her pocket and wishes, wishes, wishes she will 'win' the bed so she can see the moon and know her dad is looking at the same moon too. The treasure works! But how? And where did this come from? On subsequent days she finds more tiny treasures - a walnut, an acorn, some moss in a match box and a pinecone. Each one works but only once. The Leelu meets the other neighbour - an eccentric man whose home is filled with objects just like her treasures.

He has a strange way of talking and never seems to directly answer her questions but along with Betsy, Leelu is sure she has found a special friend. Especially as thing are becoming desperate, and she has no idea when her dad will come, and her brother is clearly in trouble and then mum gives up her job and the landlord wants his rent - now!

Here are a few phrases by Bo:

"Heads, shoulders, needs, and toes"; "Of course, a horse, of course"; "I am trying to do something quite splentacular"; "And then it might be too late. Tick tock, tick tock."

Check out my labels for this post - if your school has issues with the themes of same sex marriage then this might not be the right book for your library. I loved the magical realism, the quirky voice of Bo (the man next door) and the way Polly Ho-Yen paints a picture of the cold and dirty city. Some reviewers and booksellers list this book for 9-12 but I am going to say mature readers 11+. Even though it was published in 2017 this book is still available or you might find it in a library. 

Here are other books by Polly Ho-Yen:

How I saved the world in a week

Two Sides

The boy who grew a tree

Before you were Born by Katrina Germein illustrated by Helene Magisson

"Famil and friends all gathered here, bringing their love, good wishes and cheer. All the talk was of you and when you would come. Were you kicking inside? Or sucking your thumb?

In this book each page shows a different family at various family events and in each scene we see a mum-to-be. There is a family part in a suburban backyard; a group arriving at the family farm and a group of ladies sitting on the red earth of the outback. On the following pages we see more gatherings and the giving of gifts - tiny new clothes and toys. On the final double spread we see the four mums with their partners and their new baby. There are subtle references to disabilities - such as the guide dog with the mum sitting in a park. When you go back you will see her guide dog sleeping in the lounge room and her white guide stick. 

Take a look here to see Helene Magisson creating the art for this book. Here is the web page for Katrina Germein. If you use this book with a group of Kindergarten or Grade One students here is a set of teaching notes. 

Helene Magisson’s exquisite illustrations encompass all that Katrina Germein expresses in her verse text, and more. Visually stunning, this outstanding picture book represents every parent, regardless of their origins. Kids' Next Read

Written in rhyming couplets the text focuses on the experience of the baby shower. It features the traditions of a variety of family groups from an array of different cultures. (I would give this book an A+ for sensitive inclusivity). Further, the book beautifully captures the speculation and longing that accompanies many pregnancies. Reading Time

This would be a lovely gift for a family who are expecting a new baby perhaps as a baby shower gift and then it would be a book to share with that child after they are born and through their early years to talk about the excitement of waiting for the new baby. I have one photo of my mum when she was pregnant, and it is a special photo because I can see she is happy and enjoying the garden in her new home. When I was a child I loved this photo because it 'proved' I really did 'belong' to my mum and dad. 

Love, Z by Jessie Sima

The cover of this book really caught my eye. As you can see there are seven robots and a sailor cat. Look closely and you can see each robot has a letter - ALMFYI and Z. The meaning of this is revealed at the end and it gave me a huge smile.

Little Z is out exploring when he stumbles on a bottle and yes inside the bottle is a message. The message is smudgy but Z can read - "Love, Beatrice". 

"The young robot did not know what 'love' meant or who 'Beatrice' was, but they felt important."

No one in the robot family can help with these questions so Z heads off in search of answers and it is Captain Cat on the cover who helps him/her/them on the way. You might think of a book like Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge - various people and animals and children supply answers but all of this is so confusing. 

Love is butterflies. Love is sweaters. Love is lawn gnomes. Love is a million puppies. Love is snowflakes on my tongue.

Captain Cat and Z continue their voyage and eventually they chance upon a small island. It is a wonderful moment when a kindly lady opens the door to her small cottage and she tells the travellers her name is Beatrice! Z and Beatrice talk about love. Love is warm, cozy, safe and you will know it when you feel it. But Z is still confused until the final scene ...

There is some controversy about Jessie Sima here in NSW because she is the author of Spencer's new Pet a book that the NSW English unit writers have featured for ES1 or Kindergarten. That should be okay I guess but here in Australia this US picture book - Spencer's New Pet is very expensive and while it is a fun example of a wordless book, especially I would suggest for a preschool aged child, there are so many other books teachers could use to fulfil the syllabus outcomes. The problem comes when some teachers, many new to the profession, feel unable to alter or modify a unit of work even though, at this stage, these units are just suggestions - they are not mandatory. Meanwhile cash strapped schools and schools with small library budgets are struggling to purchase this book like Spencer's New Pet especially when some schools demand multiple copies. I've seen Spencer's New Pet listed between AUS$30 and AUS$43. Anyway all of that to one side I did enjoy Love, Z. 

Here is the web site for Jessie Sima with a list of all her books. 

Kaleidoscope by Brian Selznick

In some ways this feels like an easy book to read but in other ways this is a book filled with complex layers of imagery, emotion and tiny story fragments. Your brain might struggle to form each element into a complete picture. I guess this is just like the fractured colours of glass that you see through a kaleidoscope. The patterns in a kaleidoscope are very appealing but also incomplete so perhaps we should not expect to see a complete picture in this book with which uses the word kaleidoscope as its title and form. 

Our unnamed narrator has a good friend called James. James is wise. James is elusive. James appears and disappears. James is in the real world and then not. The narrator remembers time spent with James during their childhood and equally he grieves his passing. 

Here we have another book with a odd array of suggested ages. As I read this book (in one sitting) I thought this was most certainly a YA title for ages 12+.  Books Up North (see link below) say 10+ and adult; Kirkus 11+ up to adult; Commonsense Media 12+; Scholastic (the publisher) say Grade 4 and up; and online bookseller Booktopia say 8+. 

A bookseller explained this book to me saying it was a series of interconnected short stories and yes that is true but unlike other short story collections this book works best if you read from front to back especially the first time then you could revisit the stories that intrigue or excite you. I certainly had a few favourite stories or examples of stories from this book that resonated with me and also I saw some fabulous sentences that could be used with senior Primary or junior High School students as writing prompts.

Here are some sentences that appealed to me:

"I looked out over the water and wondered if anything truly existed beyond the horizon. Reports of monsters beneath the waves and gods above the clouds had been around since the dawn of time."

"Most people think time is a machine that needs to be oiled and wound with a key. They think it's something you control and maintain. But maybe it's more wild than that. Maybe it's bigger and stranger. Maybe time is uncontrollable, and endless, and dangerous. Like a forest eating a house."

"It was a spring morning when the knight first appeared on my dusty horizon, his ruby-encrusted armour gleaming in the sun like a burning meteor come down to earth."

Stories that intrigued and delighted me:

Chrysalis page 153

The Story of Mr Gardner page 101

The Quest page 69

This book made me think of The Little Prince but I seem to be only reviewer to mention this. The other book you could compare with Keleidoscope is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. I would also link this book with titles by Australian award winning author Shaun Tan - Tales from Outer Suburbia and Tales of the Inner City and also The Rules of Summer. 

You can hear Brian Selznick reading from his book here. If you click each of these review comments you can read a little more about the way this book works - not exactly the plot - but fragments of stories and connections to bigger themes.

While each tale seems like a sliver of a larger story we’ll never learn, we get the impression that we’re hearing the best part. Perhaps that is enough. New York Times

While Selznick trusts readers to draw their own conclusions about what is true, he offers rich companionship on the voyage. Kirkus Star review

Few books are this impossible to summarise. Selznick, who already has written remarkable works, writes a complex book for young readers that is one where themes and metaphors are waiting to be explored. Waking Brain Cells

Readers will see that in Selznick’s carefully rendered artwork, the disjointed narratives, the stories that almost but don’t quite but maybe do intersect. Kaleidoscope is a meditative and ultimately hopeful book, ideal for readers seeking a puzzle-like diversion.  MissPrint

You have never read a book like this before. You need to meet it on its own terms. Read for love. Read for loss. Read for grief.  Read for hope. When you’re done, you’re going to want to talk about it. Give it to a colleague or a kid or teen in your life. Compare what they saw within it to what you saw within it. Books Up North

Other famous books by Brian Selznick:

The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson

 

I was reminded of a multigenerational story idea—a story that tracks a family’s experience with racism from the early 1900s to today—and I realised that this was the story that I needed to pair with the puzzle. Varian Johnson

I like to think of The Parker Inheritance as a mash-up: part contemporary fiction, part historical fiction, part mystery— even part middle-grade novel and part young-adult novel. That being said, I’m proud of the historical parts of the novel. I think it’s important that we write historical fiction—we don’t want to forget the sacrifices that others made in the past to make the world a better place for us today. Varian Johson

Candice and her mother have moved to Lambert, South Carolina. Her grandmother has left Candice a letter which contains a puzzle. From the letter Candice learns there might be a huge amount of money hiding in this small town but to find it Candice will need to solve a complex puzzle and make some discoveries about some very disturbing events from the past. Luckily Candice has made a new friend - the boy who lives across the road called Brandon. He is good at puzzles too.

Varian Johnson uses alternating voices - Candice from the present and characters from the past beginning with 1914 and progressively moving through time. It feels a little as though each character takes a microphone to share his or her role in the mystery.  Take a minute to read this wonderful review by Elizabeth Bird in the School Library Journal. She sums this book up by saying: Come for the puzzle, then. Stay for the biting glimpse of America’s intolerant past.

We are in lock down here in Sydney and so it was good to have an absorbing book to read yesterday. I started and finished The Parker Inheritance in just one day and it is 337 pages of fairly small print. The two covers above are the paperback edition (top) and the hardcover edition. I prefer the hardcover one - which one appeals to you? Listen to an audio sample from Chapter two. The Parker Inheritance is a Coretta Scott King Honour Book. Here are some teaching notes.

The town of Lambert brims with intrigue, keeping readers entranced until the very last page. A candid and powerful reckoning of history.  Kirkus Star review

When Candice finds a letter in an old attic in Lambert, South Carolina, she isn't sure she should read it. It's addressed to her grandmother, who left the town in shame. But the letter describes a young woman. An injustice that happened decades ago. A mystery enfolding the letter-writer. And the fortune that awaits the person who solves the puzzle. So with the help of Brandon Jones, the quiet boy across the street, she begins to decipher the clues. The challenge will lead them deep into Lambert's history, full of ugly deeds, forgotten heroes, and one great love; and deeper into their own families, with their own unspoken secrets. Can they find the fortune and fulfil the letter's promise before the answers slip into the past yet again?  Social Justice Books.

The puzzle aspect of this story reminded me of books by Blue Balliett and the issues of racial prejudice reminded me of The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis and Stella by Starlight by Sharon M Draper. 

I enjoyed the way US History especially from the 1950's was woven into this story. Before reading this book here in Australia a reader aged 11+ will perhaps need to do some background reading about segregation; Brown v. Board of education; and civil rights.  In the US this book is listed for 9+ but in my view that is way too young. There is one very violent scene in this book which might disturb a younger reader.

This book refers to The Westing Game (1978) by Ellen Raskin which I have not read but have added to my 'to read' list. 

Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender

 

Caroline's mother gave birth to her daughter during a hurricane. " ... it's a curse being born during a hurricane. I won't have an inch of luck for the rest of my days, and sadness will follow me wherever I go."

There is a deep sadness in Caroline's life. "One morning my mom got up and went halfway across the world ... "  All she has now are occasional postcards sent from faraway places and now the postcards have stopped coming.

She also seems to be under a curse: "Seeing that I'm the littlest girl with the darkest skin and the thickest hair in the whole Catholic School, Missus Wilhelmina doesn't like me - no not at all. I get a smacking on my bum for everything: not looking her in the eye when spoken to, laughing too loud during playtime, and thinking I'm better than everyone else because I know the answers to her questions in class, for asking too many questions in class, for not crying after those bum smackings. I always refuse to cry after a bum smacking." The other girls taunt and tease her, no one is her friend. Every day Caroline makes the long journey by boat from her home on Water Island to Saint Thomas and everyday her experience at school is utterly dreadful. 

All of these things motivate Caroline. She is determined to find her mother. She needs answers to her desperate questions - Why did her mother leave? Does her mother love her? Was it Caroline's fault that she left? Will she please come back? 

Caroline mostly does not worry about being different but she is deeply lonely until a new girl arrives in the class. Kalinda is a special girl. She is not bullied by the other horrid girls, she is confident and wise. It seems impossible to Caroline that Kalinda could very be her friend but somehow this does happen and life feels better until the terrible day when Kalinda (and those other horrid girls) read the beautiful love letter Caroline has written to Kalinda. This love is more than the love of a friend. This is a deep first love. The Wikipedia entry for this book says: there is a "romantic relationship that is developed between two of the main adolescent characters."

This is another one of those books where I feel quite conflicted.  Many reviewers list this book for ages 9+ or even 8+.  When I finished reading Hurricane Child I declared it was a Young Adult title for 12 or perhaps 13+. If you look at my list of labels I have assigned to this post it is clear this book has mature themes.  

Here is a quote from the New York Times (part of their discussion of four recent books including Hurricane Child)

Reading a middle-grade novel can feel like opening Pandora’s box. Devastating storms. Racial injustice. Violence, divorce, bullying, class conflict, depression, displacement, illness, grief, homophobia, abandonment, isolation, money worries and suicide attempts.

I did enjoy so much about this book. The voice and honesty of Caroline, the descriptions of the Caribbean islands, and the unwavering determination of Caroline to find her mother.  The way Kacen Callender describes the Caribbean islands reminded of the way I felt reading Turtle in Paradise set in Key West Florida. Here are some maps to help orientate you to the setting of this book:

Here is a photo of the type of Taxi Caroline catches after her boat ride. 

Why do I think this book is for older readers: Caroline's mother has previously attempted suicide; every day Caroline is beaten by her Catholic school teacher; Caroline is making new discoveries about her own sexuality; and then there is the violence of the bullying inflicted on Caroline every day.

Each of these reviews has more plot details:

Kirkus Star review

Horn Book

Ms Yingling Reads

School Library Journal

You can see several awards on the front cover - Stonewall Award (Given for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience in English-language books published in the U.S.) and Lambada Literature Award (Created over 30 years ago to recognise the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world). Here is a video review by Andrea Pinkney.

Companion reads:

Jubilee

October October

A home for Goddesses and Dogs by Leslie Connor

Here is the publisher blurb: "It’s a life-altering New Year for thirteen-year-old Lydia when she uproots to a Connecticut farm to live with her aunt following her mother’s death. Aunt Brat and her jovial wife, Eileen, and their ancient live-in landlord, Elloroy, are welcoming—and a little quirky. Lydia’s struggle for a sense of belonging in her new family is highlighted when the women adopt a big yellow dog just days after the girl’s arrival. Wasn’t one rescue enough? Lydia is not a dog person—and this one is trouble! He is mistrustful and slinky. He pees in the house, escapes into the woods, and barks at things unseen. His new owners begin to guess about his unknown past. Meanwhile, Lydia doesn’t want to be difficult—and she does not mean to keep secrets—but there are things she’s not telling... Like why the box of “paper stuff” she keeps under her bed is so important...  And why that hole in the wall behind a poster in her room is getting bigger... And why something she took from the big yellow dog just might be the key to unraveling his mysterious past—but at what cost?"

I picked up this book because I really enjoyed another book by Leslie Connor - The Truth as told to Mason Buttle.  Earlier in 2011 I also read and thoroughly enjoyed Waiting for Normal.  Both are books I would add to my top 100 titles for senior primary and junior high school readers, but while I did enjoy A home for Goddesses and Dogs it did not hit the same emotional highs and lows I felt with these other two titles. Ms Yingling gave this book 3 stars out of five. Colby Sharp included this title in his list of best books for 2020.

You can listen to an audio sample from Chapter one on the US Publisher web page.  Warning (Chapter 26) - sensitive readers may find the description of the badly hurt baby goats very distressing.

An almost-orphan and a rescue dog share lots of heart in a winsome coming-of-age story. Kirkus

This novel will surely be a big and important story when it reaches the children who need it most. The Children's Book Review

Full of dogs, warmth and love, this is another great read from a talented author. Waking Brain Cells

Even though these are much shorter books and written for a slightly younger audience, I would pair A home for Goddesses and Dogs with these two books which explore the theme of dogs and their healing powers:

White Fur Flying

Waiting for the Magic

You should also look for Small Mercies which explores forming new relationships when children have to move in and live with other relatives after the death of a parent. 

Small Mercies