Something Like Home by Andrea Beatriz Arango

A 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?

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published September 12, 2023

 by Random House Books for Young Readers

4.5/5 stars

The more I read books in verse I shouldn't be surprised with how much they can say in so few words, Something Like Home is a great example. It's a middle grade book, that deals with some very grown-up realities, Andrea Beatriz Arango handles them with real care.

Eleven-year-old Laura is living with an aunt she barely knows. Her parents are in rehab, and Laura is convinced it's all her fault. And now if she can just make the right choices, she can fix everything and get her family back. When she finds a lost dog, it becomes part of her plan to do exactly that. 

The guilt Laura feels is woven through letters she writes to her parents, they are full of hope one moment and desperation the next. The author herself was a teacher and it shows that she can clearly understands kids as it shines through on the pages.

Something Like Homes is a book that opens up conversations that don't come up often enough in children's fiction: what it's like to have a parent struggling with addiction, when sometimes you have to rely on yourself at such a young age and even how a therapy dog can help a child who can't find the words for what she's feeling. 

This would be a wonderful choice for a young reader, a classroom, or anyone who works with kids going through upheaval at home. And for adults like me, it's a gentle reminder that children often carry far more than we realize.

This book is part of my 2026 Reading Off My Shelf Challenge #38