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. Awards Winner of Canada Reads 2007 Winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction 2007 Shortlisted for the Governor General's Award 2007 Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2008 Shortlisted for the Amazon.ca/ Books in Canada First Novel Award 2007 Shortlisted for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers Award 2007 Shortlisted for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montreal 2007 Shortlisted for the Exclusive Books Boeke Prize South Africa 2008 Longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award 2008 Plot summary The novel revolves around the twelve-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, 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, though the cause of death is not revealed immediately. 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 is eventually taken away by Child Protective Services and put into a foster home while Jules is in the hospital with tuberculosis. There she makes friends with two boys, Linus Lucas, a 14-year-old who all the children think is the very height of cool, and Zachary, a mellow, happy 12-year-old. 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. Around this time, she is taken into juvenile detention, and spends about a month in there. 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