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I think that this roller coaster pretty accuretly describes "Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars" because Lauralee Summer's life was very up and down at times. When her mom had a stable live-in job, Mr. Mac came into her life, wrestling was a coping method, and her acceptance to Harvard would make the roller coaster go up but when Summer was in foster care, homeless shelters, and didn't have enough money for food, the roller coaster would go down. The whole book is based on the up and down roller coaster theme to reveal where Lauralee has ended up.

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Lauralee and her mother get into a heated argument when Lauralee asks her mom why she doesn't go get a job. In this argument, Lauralee explains how her mother is selfish and uses all the Welfare money for herself. Things get so heated that Lauralee starts to throw things around and breaks them. Lauralee ended the argument with tears rolling down her cheeks and she had left herself with a mess to clean up. (Summer 95-98).

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Lauralee Summer grew up in poverty with her mother Elizabeth Summer. They had moved from homeless shelters, to cheap apartments, to her moms live-in jobs, time and time again. Finally, they had moved from Oregon to California and finally to Boston. In Boston, Lauralee's grades went up do to Mr. Mac, she joined the wrestling team, and just happened to make friends along the way. Lauralee's love for books got her grades up and she got a scholarship to Harvard on the wrestling team. While at Harvard, Lauralee came in contact with her father after all her life not knowing him and he finally became the father figure she's always wanted in her life. Lauralee was still in touch with her mother that was living in a homeless shelter in Boston while she was in college and always stayed key part in Lauralee's growing up.

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Mr. Mac- "he told me, "Some things you have to do to get by, you know, jump through the hoops. Then you do what you want the rest of the time. You live your life."' (Summer 165). I believe this quote is meaningful to the story because this is right after Lauralee met Mr. Mac and when he says this she realized he is going to help her throughout her education and be there for support when she needs is. By saying this, Mr. Mac was trying to help Summer see her education as a personal progress because she was always grading herself on the things she had done and her education needed to be seen as personal progress too.

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~Make the most out of what you have and the things that are given to you.~
I believe this is a possible theme because when Lauralee was litter her mother gave her the smallest most simple gitfs and she thought the world of them (tinfoil robot costume, cardboard box playhouse, and the puzzle piece on the handmade checkers board). Also, Lauralee took advantage of the good school and teachers at her high school in Boston to help her achieve and higher standard

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I would give "Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars" a 4/5 star rating. I would give it this because I was an interesting book, showing a hard life from a perspective you wouldn't think about. I really enjoyed this book because Summer was very down to earth with everything she wrote about and didn't sugarcoat her life story, she told it as is and it really spoke to my heart. The reason I wouldn't give it a 5/5 star rating is because the beginning of the book was actually very confusing, I didn't ever understand if it was her mom telling a story or her talking. Other than the confusing parts at the beginning, the book was overall super good and I'd recommend it to anyone

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In this 1/4 part video, Summer talks about the reason why her book is named "Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars" and how much of her life the her book covers.

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Lauralee Summer interview 8/19/08 (part 1)

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Author Lauralee Summer explains how she came up with the title of her book, "Learning Joy From Dogs Without Collars." This episode of "From the Bookshelf" aired on Walpole Community Television in August 2008.

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"Learning Joy from Dogs without Collars" is and Autobiography written by Lauralee Summer about the first 20 or so years of her life.

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Lauralee-"'You are infuriating! Everybody hates you! You are a bad mother!'" (Summer 97). This quote is meaningful to the story because throughout the book, Summer explains how her relationship with her mom is the strongest relationship that shes ever had. When she says this to her mom, we can all assume that she doesn't actually hate her. For Lauralee to say this to her mom and explain how her mom needs to do something with her life and to stop living off of Welfare and wasting the checks on herself, shows a point in her life when she realizes her mom hasn't been taking the best care of her and

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I believe Lauralee Summer chose this book cover because of her choice of title. In an interview, Summer explained how she chose this title about a poem written by another homeless person (found in the front of the book). Though, this book isn't about dogs of any sorts, the poem really spoke to her in terms of her life. I believe she chose this picture of her and a dog because dogs basically run free and live a very hectic life and have very wild experiences, the same way her life was. Her life was very chaotic, always moving around, and never having many friends. Summer found that her mom was always going to be there for her, just like the same way I'd believe a dog would be their for its human.

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~Let your life struggles be the reason to better yourself and get on top, rather than remaining what you always thought yourself to be.~
I think this is a possible theme because when Lauralee wanted to get good grades and wanted to join the wrestling team, it was to better herself and so she could prove she was more than Welfare cards and homeless shelters. In the end, all the work Lauralee did payed off with a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League school. I think it's quite outstanding the fact that she could come from such a life and place, and come out on top to a place above where lots well off people would ever find themselves