Looking Out for Sarah

Lane, Glenna. Looking Out for Sarah. Massachusetts: Charlesbridge Publishing, 2001.

Looking Out for Sara was based on a true story of a woman named Sarah Gregory Smith and her seeing eye dog Perry. This picture book is great for children of all ages. In order to write the book Glenna Lang not only interviewed Sarah but many other people who were blind. Lang was interested in the seeing eye dog’s role so she also observed many dogs in public. Lang also has a dog of her own which gives her insight to many tendencies and characteristics that dogs portray. Lang also had help researching from Kim Charlson who is a librarian at the Perkins School for the Blind.

The book gives vivid detail of Sarah and Perry’s life through Perry’s perspective. All the events are true. One part of the story makes reference to an adventure the two of them went on where they traveled over three hundred miles from Boston to New York by foot. Perry helped lead Sarah through country paths and the small towns watching out for branches, cars, and other dangerous objects. Throughout the picture book Lang included images around Sarah’s house of their long walk, as well as framed newspaper articles depicting their adventure. Lang explained the restrictions on when one is able to pet see-eying dogs and the importance of not distracting tem at certain times of the day.

The vivid colorful pictures keep the readers attention. The reader is able to get a sense of the daily routine and the responsibilities of a seeing-eye dog. Lang does a good job portraying to the reader of the how different ones life would be if one was blind. From reading this novel children are able to get a sense of how different their lives would be if they were blind. They also are able to see the dependence level and importance of a seeing-eye dog. This novel received the Schneider Family Book Award in 2004 from the American Library Association.