Life's a Funny Proposition, Horatio

by Barbara Garland Polikoff

Adjusting to his father's death and his family's move to a small Wisconsin town, twelve-year-old Horatio is shaken by the death of his grandfather's beloved dog. Reprint.

Genres: Juvenile

112 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 1992

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was read to me in 4th grade and it stuck out. I'm now 31 years old and just reread it and loved it again. It's about death and mourning, but death is a part of life. I'm so grateful my teacher read it to me when I was a kid. This book is packed with some really helpful wisdom.

[Katie Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly was not a fan of this book. It's about a boy, Horatio, whose father dies a year earlier, his grandfather has a heart attack, and the family all moves in together. Within the first few chapters, the grandfathers dog, Mollie, wanders off from the yard and she appears to have fallen in the ice covered lake, crawled to shore, and froze to death. The book is about death, coping, and moving on.
I would not use this book in my classroom. I may have it available in my book nook, but I wouldn't really "recommend" it.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Life's a Funny Proposition, Horatio is a touching story about a family dealing with loss. First, the loss of Horatio's father to lung cancer, and then again O.P. (Grandpa) loses his long time canine companion, Molly. In a struggle against missing those they lost and moving on, we have a story peppered with apt Shakespearean quotations and just a smidge of kid-accessible humor. Although it wasn't the best book I've ever read on the topic of loss and grief, it was far from the worst.

[Arlene Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ah...back before children...when I first started working in Youth Services....I read almost as much then as when I was a teenager.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of loss and moving on presented in a light and creative way for young readers.