Author: Amy Hest

Illustrator: Amy Bates

Publisher/Year: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2008

Pages: 29

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Analysis:

The Dog Who Belonged to No One tells the parallel stories of two lonely characters: “a small dog with crooked ears” (p. 1) and a “wisp of a girl named Lisa” (p. 4). The dog is quiet, friendly, and helpful, but no one ever notices him; Lisa spends long Sundays delivering breads and cakes and has to think up stories to ward off the loneliness. On one stormy morning, Lisa and the dog get caught in the rain and after both taking shelter in Lisa’s warm home, they become inseparable friends.

The Dog Who Belonged to No One speaks to readers, like Lisa and the dog, who feel unnoticed, underappreciated, and in need of a good friend. For readers who have never struggled to make friends, The Dog Who Belonged to No One provides a window into the lives of the lonely, and the hopelessness they find themselves in. Phrases like the “dog could not outrun the night” help readers to see that loneliness can feel like an inescapable trap or a bottomless pit (p. 13). Readers will likely empathize with the dog and Lisa as they read how much of their happiness is derived from wishful dreams (e.g. the dog dreams of a softly lit yard and porch). Finally, Lisa and her family set a good example for readers by graciously and happily welcoming into their lives a dog who needed exactly what they had: a warm home, and tender love. Hest calls upon readers to open their eyes and open their hearts to those in need.

Power rests symbolically in the hands of fate, the force that brought Lisa and the dog together. The main characters who suffer from too much solitude are depicted as rather powerless. The dog, for example, can try as hard as he wants to help others (e.g. fetching the boys’ baseballs), but still his efforts go unnoticed, causing him to feel even more sad. Lily is jealous of the girls who can stand outside with their dolls and talk, and the sight of them makes her feel alone. While the illustrations mirror the text, they do not fully align with my understanding of culture. Minorities, and the disabled, ugly, or poor—not white girls of hardworking families and well-behaved dogs—are characters I feel typically face loneliness or a lack of belonging. However, using Lisa and the dog as she did could be Hest’s way of saying that anyone can feel alone and in need of a friend.

Hest uses long sentences, repetition, and parallel wording (between the stories of Lisa and the dog) to dramatize the loneliness felt by Lisa and the dog and gain the reader’s sympathy. The text emphasizes how the dog and Lisa are perfectly good people and animals who do not deserve their loneliness. Bates’ illustrations add to the text by also appearing to readers’ emotions. Lisa and the dog, for example, are often drawn with their eyes gazing downward and a blank, somber expression; only after they have found each other do they make eye contact. In the final scene, the dog and Lisa are welcomed from the rain with an open porch, symbolic of their new beginning and friendship together, and personal growth (they no longer have to be alone). Love and acceptance are themes prevalent in The Dog Who Belonged to no One. Unfortunately, fate and coincidence are shown to be problem-fixers in Hest’s book. This is not always realistic, for some situations can only be improved by human initiative and purposeful action.