Lullabies for Little Criminals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lullabies for Little Criminals
Author	Heather O'Neill
Country	Canada
Language	English
Genre(s)	Novel
Publisher	HarperCollins
Publication date	2006
Media type	Print Paperback
Pages	330 pp

Lullabies for Little Criminals is a 2006 novel by Heather O'Neill.

The book was chosen for inclusion in the 2007 edition of Canada Reads, where it was championed by musician John K. Samson. Lullabies for Little Criminals won the competition. It was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English language fiction in the 2007 Governor General's Awards.

[edit] Plot summary

The novel revolves around the thirteen-year-old protagonist named Baby and follows her for two years. Baby lives with her father Jules, who has a worsening heroin addiction. The two move frequently, to various places around Montreal and across Canada, where they encounter many other characters, among them junkies, bums, pimps, and abused children.

Baby was born while Jules was in high school with her mother, who died soon after Baby was born. It is not mentioned in the beginning what happened to Baby's mother.

Jules often leaves young Baby by herself wherever they may be living, for anywhere from a week to over a month at a time. Baby becomes distraught and finds herself wandering the streets of Montreal on her own. She meets various people, including a group of kids at a youth center and a pimp.

Baby is eventually taken away by Child Protective Services and put into a foster home while Jules goes through rehab. When Jules finally picks her up, he promises that everything will return to normal.

As Jules and Baby begin to settle down again, Jules' addiction gets the best of him and he begins to lash out at Baby, often for no reason. Baby eventually runs away and finds a semblance of security with a pimp named Alphonse. Alphonse develops an intimate relationship with Baby, taking her virginity, and forcing her to become a prostitute. She becomes one of his "girls" and is fearful of leaving him. She attempts to return to the apartment she had shared with Jules, but it is locked from the inside and nobody is there, so she assumes Jules has abandoned her. Alphonse also exposes her to heroin and she becomes addicted to it.

Baby goes back to school while still prostituting herself and meets an odd boy named Xavier. Xavier and Baby slowly but surely become closer and begin to date. As their relationship grows, they become very intimate, and have sex at Alphonse's hotel room, the only place they can be alone. When Alphonse returns to find them there, he beats Xavier and sends him home. Alphonse then beats Baby and overdoses on her heroin by taking all of it at once. When Baby wakes up the next morning, she finds Alphonse dead of a drug overdose.

Baby leaves Alphonse's room and is left with nowhere to go. She decides to go to a nearby homeless shelter. Upon arrival, she finds Jules. They embrace, and Jules explains that he has set up a place to stay with his cousin. They pack up and walk to the local bus station. It is here that Jules explains that Baby's mother died in a car crash while Jules was driving.

They catch a bus to Jules' cousin's house, and the story ends.