Life Without Mooch

Elizabeth Levin is a professor of psychology at Laurentian University.

This First Novel for young readers may have lost something in the
translation from the original work in French. It is not a mystery story,
yet the reader does not get the story until the end of the book. And
although that is somewhat fitting, since the protagonist does not
discover the truth about his family until the end of the story either, a
child reading Life Without Mooch as a first chapter book may find it
confusing.

It seems that a young boy’s dog, Mooch, has died and the boy has
decided to write a book about his dog. We don’t actually learn that
the boy’s name is Carl until almost a third of the way into the book.
Carl, by the way, refers to his mother as Judy. Carl is worried that if
Judy has forgotten Mooch, then surely she has forgotten his father, who
passed away several years ago. He then imagines that Judy is having an
affair with his best friend’s father. Carl and Judy finally talk it
out and Carl realizes that his mom still loves him and his dad, even
though she may eventually come to love another man.

While reading this story may be helpful for some children working their
way through similar situations, the organization is quite confusing and
the theme more mature than many young readers have bargained for. The
chapters are three to four pages long and each contains a
black-and-white sketch. Not a first-choice purchase.