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Video: How To Change The World (a work in progress) | Kid President

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Video: How To Change The World (a work in progress) | Kid President

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Our friend Kid President who has made many positive videos to help change the world. Here he gives examples of what we think it takes to change the world but in reality anyone can help change the world, it just takes you and me! This is such a powerful positive message for students to see.

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How To Change The World (a work in progress) | Kid President

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Video:Homelessness from a child's perspective

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Video:Homelessness from a child's perspective

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This video shows what it's like to be homeless from a 12 year old child's perspective. Students often think because someone is homeless means they are living on the street or it just affects adults. Students will get to see Kaylynn's perspective and thoughts on how they are living.

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This video shows what causes poverty in the world. Throughout this lesson there are many books that shows homeless people being depicted as dirty and less than, here the video talks about that separation and how it just becomes the "norm" when we are all people who need to come together to make a change.

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Video:Parents and kids talk about homelessness

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Video:Parents and kids talk about homelessness

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In this video parents are asking their children about what their life is like being homeless and how it makes them feel. Children open up about what living in a shelter was like, talking to other kids about being homeless, what a home is like, dream bedroom and so forth. This video will help students change their perspectives on being homeless.

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Parents and Kids Talk About Homelessness

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Video:4-year-old superhero has the power to feed the homeless

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Video:4-year-old superhero has the power to feed the homeless

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This super sweet video follows a little four year old named Austin who feeds the homeless. Austin learned about the term homeless from a children's show. He is spreading love and wanted to share his allowance and toy money to buy food for the homeless in his community. "Don't forget to show love!"

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4-year-old superhero has the power to feed the homeless

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This video discusses what a child feels when they have a safe home. Children and adults talk about what fears of children are when they do not have a home to sleep in and what their worries are when they are moving from place to place.

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Video: A Day in the life of a homeless person

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Video: A Day in the life of a homeless person

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This video shows people what it is like to be homeless. They also go into why they become homeless, what it is like, and what it looks like in different countries. This video brings to light cruel assumptions made by others.

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Video: Miracle Messages - Reconnecting Our Homeless Neighbors with their Loved Ones (April 2020)

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Video: Miracle Messages - Reconnecting Our Homeless Neighbors with their Loved Ones (April 2020)

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This organization helps the people in the homeless community reach out to loved ones they have lost while being on the street.

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Miracle Messages - Reconnecting Our Homeless Neighbors with their Loved Ones (April 2020)

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Here are a few examples of how young people took action in their communities to help spread awareness of homelessness and helped people in their communities!

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How Kids and Teens Can Help

Resources and ways to take action for kids, parents and teachers.

Take Action

You and your school can put together care kits that the Coalition can hand out to homeless New Yorker living on the streets.

Myths and Facts About Homelessness

Have your kids asked you questions about homelessness in NYC?

Learning About Homelessness

Want to help your students understand more about homelessness in their City and what they can do to help? Download this presentation created by the Coalition's Advocacy team geared towards kids and teens.

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How Kids and Teens Can Help - Coalition For The Homeless

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Resources and ways to take action for kids, parents and teachers. You and your school can put together care kits that the Coalition can hand out to homeless New Yorker living on the streets. Have your kids asked you questions about homelessness in NYC?

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I included this a resource because it answers questions that students may have about the homeless population. Some think it is an easy fix to get off the street or it is there fault for being there.

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Myths and Facts - Coalition For The Homeless

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Common myths and misconceptions about people experiencing homelessness, debunked.

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Supportive Text: Facts About Homelessness

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Supportive Text: Facts About Homelessness

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This website shows the statistics of being homeless and what it has looked like through the years and how their is an incline in the homeless population. It even breaks it down to how many people will be sleeping in shelters that night.

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Facts About Homelessness - Coalition For The Homeless

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Number of Homeless People in NYC Shelters Each Night In April 2023, 78,807 people slept in the…

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This article talks about poverty in a kid friendly engaging way. Students are asked to read a simple excerpt about a child then answer a few questions to see if the child is below the poverty line or not. This website helps children see the difference from being in poverty to not being in it.

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What is Poverty? - Lesson for Kids | Study.com

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Poverty is an issue faced by many people all over the world who do not have their most basic needs like food, water, and a home. This lesson will…

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Supportive Text:FAQ About Homeless Veterans 

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Supportive Text:FAQ About Homeless Veterans 

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This Website is dedicated to the men and women that are homeless after fighting for our Countries freedom. Here students can learn why Veterans are homeless, how they can help, what the statistics are of this population and so forth.

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All across America there is the same problem, there are so many people without food and places to live. This article dives into a new topic, tent cities. When the shelters are over flowing, where do people end up going?

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Supportive Text: Veterinarians treat homeless pets at Santa Ana River Trail for free

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Supportive Text: Veterinarians treat homeless pets at Santa Ana River Trail for free

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This website talks about when people become homeless they are often faced with the difficult decision of what to do with their pets. Here veterinarians are trying to bring awareness to homeless pets and help get them food and care they need just like their owners.

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Information on this website is for educational purposes only. The Animal Health Foundation does not provide veterinary services or guidance via the Internet. Please consult your veterinarian for veterinary care of your pets.

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Supportive Text:The National Health Care for the Homeless Council

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Supportive Text:The National Health Care for the Homeless Council

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This website gives real statistics on what life is like when homeless. How people are affected every day and how they need medical help. Living on the streets means there are no regular doctor visits to be cared for when you are sick.

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This article discusses how students can help in their local community. It discusses the importance of being a volunteer and how they can help even at a young age.

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Volunteering means spending some of your time helping others. Kids can volunteer doing lots of different things. You can help a family who lost their home in a flood. Or you can collect canned goods to fill a local food pantry. You might even want to raise money for a cause you care about.

Why Is Volunteering Good for Kids?

When you volunteer, you help others - and you help yourself!

Volunteering gives you the chance to:

Make a difference. Whether you donate your old clothes to a clothing bank, bring a meal to a sick neighbor, or help care for pets at an animal shelter, you can feel good about taking action to make the world better.

Try something new. You can test out things you've never done before. For example, clean up a park or write cards to kids in the hospital. You may find something new you enjoy.

Get out of a rut. Do you ever feel bored, stuck, or annoyed? Volunteering lets you change gears and spend time focusing on others for a while. You'll probably even get to meet new people who like to do the same things as you.

Cope with your feelings. If you're upset about something - like a hurricane, war, or other disaster - doing something about it can help you feel better.

Practice being responsible. When you're a volunteer, you learn to work hard because people depend on you to do something important.

What Kinds of Volunteering Can Kids Do?

It's best for kids to volunteer with a group of people they already know, like their class or with their family. See if you can find a project that everyone thinks would be fun to do together. Here are some ideas:

Clean up a park or along a river.

Plant trees or flowers in your local community.

Serve food at a homeless shelter.

Deliver meals to seniors or people who are sick at home.

Clean up a school or other public building.

Count wildlife or plants for an environmental group.

How Do You Get Started?

So many organizations need volunteers! Ask a teacher, school counselor, or librarian for ideas. Call your local parks department or look online for suggestions. If you belong to a church, temple, mosque, or other place of worship, ask an adult who works there. Houses of worship often set up projects to help needy people in their area.

Your parents or other close relatives may have ideas too. Kids often start by working on a volunteer project with their parents. For example, if you're too young to prepare food at a soup kitchen by yourself, you might be able to go along with your parents and pitch in.

Maybe you have your own idea to raise money for a cause you care about. Do you have a special talent or favorite activity, like sewing, beading, or baking? Think about making and selling your creation. Or ask your parents if you can set up a lemonade stand in your neighborhood on a hot summer day. Then you can proudly donate the money you raise to a charity.

So, what are you waiting for? Make a plan to start volunteering today!

Date reviewed: April 2022

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Volunteering gives you a great feeling because you know you're making a difference. Find out more in this article for kids.

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Supportive Texts: Sharing Food With The Homeless Is Not A Crime--It's A First Amendment Right

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Supportive Texts: Sharing Food With The Homeless Is Not A Crime--It's A First Amendment Right

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This blog post is about the right to share food with the homeless and how it is not against the law to feed the homeless. In Fort Lauderdale the volunteers with Food not bombs were arrested before they could finish serving their meals to the homeless.

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The significance of this decision reverberates around the country. The City of Fort Lauderdale was neither the first, nor the last, City to criminalize sharing food . In a recent incident in Kansas, the local government took enforcement actions against the group Free Hot Soup that included discarding and pouring bleach on food ﻿ meant to be shared with hungry people. The group, bolstered by this court decision , continues to share food in public parks.

It is our ultimate goal that cities, like Fort Lauderdale, understand that they are the ones violating the law when they throw people in jail for sharing food. These policies are not only unconstitutional, but they are a poor use of government resources. Until governments recognize that the only solution to homelessness is housing not handcuffs , we will continue to fight these battles in the court and on the streets.

UPDATE 08.31.21

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit holds that the City of Fort Lauderdale's Park Rule 2.2, banning outdoor food sharing as a social service in public parks, violates the First Amendment.

"Fatally, the Park Rule imposes a permitting requirement without implementing any standards to guide City officials' discretion over whether to grant a permit," the states. "The long and short of it is that the Park Rule as applied to the Plaintiffs' expressive food sharing activities violates the First Amendment."

"We are excited by the Court's ruling vindicating the free speech rights of our client Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs, who shares food to communicate their political message that food is a human right," said SLC Executive Director Jodi Siegel. "This is a significant First Amendment victory, hard won after nearly seven years of litigation and two federal court appeals."

Plaintiff Nathan Pim felt vindicated by the decision.

"We have painstakingly proven food is a right," Pim said. "I hope people in power think twice before trying sharing bans here or anywhere."

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Sharing Food With The Homeless Is Not A Crime--It's A First Amendment Right - Impact Fund

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The Court recognized the significance of food sharing throughout history: "Like the flag, the significance of sharing meals with others dates back millennia." The Court found that Fort Lauderdale Food Not Bombs was clearly engaged in more than a "picnic in a park" and had instead established "an int

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1. Students will be asked to create a video and bring awareness to our local community about the homeless population that we have in our area and how they can help.

2. Students will have a drive to create care packages to bring to the local shelter or food pantry that has toiletries needed that they might not have on hand.

3. Students will also have a food drive to collect cans and dried goods to deliver to their local food pantry helping them get more involved and making a real difference in their community.

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1. Students will create a glogster showing what they have learned about homelessness. What it looks like for different people and different ages.

2.Students will create a letter on what it is like to be homeless. They will send it to a fifth grader in the school bringing awareness to other children and asking them for help when we create our food drive.

3.Students will write a letter to the local paper discussing the issues of homelessness in our community.This letter will hopefully be published in the paper so the students can spread the word. They will spread awareness, tell the local community what the local shelters are in need of and how they can help.

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1. Students will create a video describing what different shelters are like based on the information they have learned and conduct more research on the computer.They will also give their opinion on each shelter and what they would prefer.

2.Students will make pamphlets describing three different solutions they have to helping make shelters more comfortable to kids.  Students will think about what makes them feel safe at home and how they can bring a sense of security to other children in shelters with their parents or by themselves.

3. Students will plan to interview people in their families and communities to see what others know about homelessness and what they are doing to help these people in need.Students will create interview forms on the computer and conduct interviews to three different people. Students will gather their found information and compile it on a padlet where they can keep adding and go back and see what they can do to help or to better someone elses ideas.

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1. Students will use the information that they have learned from the texts and use the computers to conduct more research and make a graph depicting what locations of the world are facing poverty. Is it here? Just in other countries?

2. Students will create a journal entry based on what they think poverty means. Students will answer the following questions, what does poverty mean, are you affected by poverty? Where is poverty? They will then conduct more research on this topic and add to their journal entry based on what they have learned since their first writing experience.

3. After learning more about poverty, what it is exactly and what the statistics are students will use a movie maker app to add audio to help enhance the understanding of graphs and maps presented to them.

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1. How can we take action?

2. Should the community help the homeless population more?

3. What did you find interesting from these readings?

4.Do you know someone in your community that is homeless or less fortunate than you? How can you make a kind gesture to them?

5. How did the random act of kindness come full circle?

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1. How can we help the homeless?

2. How come people who are homeless are treated so poorly by others?

3.What does homelessness look like? Feel like?

4. How would you describe the characters in the stories?

5. Are there different kinds of shelters?

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1. Can anyone be homeless?

2. How should you treat someone who is homeless?

3.How does learning about homelessness make you feel?

4. What does it mean to be homeless? What does it look like?

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1. What does poverty mean to you?

2. What does poverty look like?

3. How can we prevent poverty? Can we?

4.What is something that surprised you from the readings?

5.Is there poverty in the United States?

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This video teaches the students what it means to have empathy for another person. While learning about the homeless community and what it means students need guidance in their feelings about this topic and this video can help educate them.

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Written by: Brenda Reeves Sturgis

This nonfiction book follows a family that lives in a shelter. The family does not live together because the mom and daughter live in the women's shelter and the dad stays in the men's shelter. The book is narrated by a little girl who shares her moving from place to place story with the reader. No matter where they move or where they go, they are still family.

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Still a Family: A Story about Homelessness

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Still a Family: A Story about Homelessness [Sturgis, Brenda Reeves, Lee, Jo-Shin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Still a Family: A Story about Homelessness

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Written by:Eve Bunting

This nonfiction book follows a young boy and his father. They live in an airport because they are homeless. The story is told by the little boy and how they are careful not to get caught by the airport security so they don't have to live on the streets. Young readers will learn how these two characters try not to get noticed and what happens when other homeless people come in noticed.

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A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying not to be noticed, is given hope when a trapped bird finally finds its freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:

9780395664155

Publisher:

HarperCollins Publishers

Publication date:

03/22/1993

Edition description:

Reissue

Pages:

32

Sales rank:

58,668

Product dimensions:

8.75(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.12(d)

Lexile:

580L ( what's this?)

Age Range:

6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Eve Bunting was the beloved, award-winning author of more than two hundred and fifty books for young people, including the Caldecott Medal-winning Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz, The Wall, Fly Away Home, and Train to Somewhere.

Ronald Himler is the award-winning illustrator of more than 75 books for children. He lives in the desert outside of Tuscon, Arizona. ronhimler.com

What People are Saying About This

"A first-rate picture book that deserves a place in all collections. Sure to spark discussion." School Library Journal, Starred

Editorial Reviews

"A first-rate picture book that deserves a place in all collections. Sure to spark discussion." - School Library Journal (starred review)

From the Publisher

In this timely and touching work, Bunting and Himler present a naturalistic look at the plight of the homeless--their tale of a boy and his father living in a busy airport is all the more disturbing for its lack of a pat resolution. Ages 5-8. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

K-Gr 3-- ``My dad and I live in an airport . . . the airport is better than the streets.'' As they did in The Wall (Clarion, 1990), Bunting and Himler successfully present a difficult subject in picture book format. A small child narrates the facts of his homeless existence--sleeping sitting up, washing in the restroom, and above all, avoiding being noticed. The brief text runs through all his emotions from a matter-of-fact acceptance to a fierce longing that makes him angry at those who have homes. Using subdued watercolors, Himler conveys the vast, impersonal spaces through which father and son move. He often places them at the back or edge of the pictures, underscoring their need to go unnoticed. This is a serious story but not an overpoweringly grim one. There is a reassuring togetherness between father and son and although there isn't an easy, happy ending, it does conclude on a poignant yet believable note of hope. Both illustrator and author focus on giving the child's-eye view of the problem, and their skill makes this a first-rate picture book that deserves a place in all collections. --Karen James, Louisville Free Public Library, KY

School Library Journal

Read More

Customer Reviews

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A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal trying not to be noticed, is given hope when a trapped bird finally finds its freedom.

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Written by: Monica Kulling
In the picture book "Aunt Pearl" Marta's family is introduced to their mom's sister, Aunt Pearl. She comes to their home with a shopping cart filled with things that need a second chance. In this picturebook readers learn what it is like to move from place to place and always be on the look out for something beautiful.

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Written by: Giora Carmi

In this picture book the reader follows a young boy who is given money to go to the bakery and get a sweet treat. On his way home he sees a homeless man and decided to share his treat with him. The man proceeds to share his crumbs with the birds which leads to birds to share seeds with the boy and a beautiful flower grows outside his window all from an act of kindness.

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Written by: By: Jean-François Dumont

This picturebook follows the life of a Bear living on the streets. The main character, Bear has been chased away and yelled at his life being on the street. Until one day a little girl comes up to him and has a conversation with him seeing him for who he really is, not passing judgments but actually seeing him.

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Written by:  Katie Marisco

In this nonfiction chapter book students learn about poverty, what it means and how they can help create change in their area. This book teaches children about United Way and what they are doing to help their local communities and how they can get involved too.

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Written by: By: Michael Genhart, PhD

In this picturebook there are no words. However each picture tells a story. In a world filled with color and people there is a homeless women who is not seen by others, and when she is they are disgusted and are mean towards her. The little boy sees her wherever he goes and in the end makes sure to show her acts of kindness, softening to hearts of the other bystanders around. This is a great book because at the end of the book the author gives many resources and information on how to talk about homelessness with students and how to get involved and make a difference.

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Written by: by Jan and Mike Berenstain

In this Berenstain Bears adventure the cub scouts are asked to renovate an abandoned house to make it a shelter for the homeless. This story follows the scouts and how they volunteered their time to make something beautiful in the community and help others.

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The Berenstain Bears Help the Homeless - Kindle edition by Berenstain, Jan and Mike. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Berenstain Bears Help the Homeless.

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Written by: Mike Boyce

This picturebook follows the journey of a young boy and his family. They had to move into in a family members house, then moved into a motel, then went to a homeless shelter to be put on the list. Since this story is told by a younger child, giving the readers a young child's perspective.

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Amazon.com: Homeless (1) (Who’s homeless): 9781543910209: Boyce, Mike: Books

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Written by:Matt de la Peña
This picturebook follows a young boy and his grandmother on their way to the soup kitchen to help feed the less fortunate. We watch the young boy wanting what others have and the newest fanciest things. In the end the reader sees what it is like to go to a soup kitchen and help the less fortunate.

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Last Stop on Market Street (Newbery Medal Winner)|Hardcover

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1 New York Times Bestseller A USA Today Bestseller Winner of the Newbery Medal A Caldecott Honor Book A Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book This award-winning modern classic-a must-have for every...

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Written by: Lela Nargi

This nonfiction picture book follows a young girl and her mother and how her mother teachers her daughter to spread kindness and take care of the less fortunate.

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Written by:  Kathlyn Gay

This nonfiction book is an advanced book where students can use it as references to find out more information about poverty and helping the homeless. This book talks about the importance of food and how when there is not enough food, starvation can lead to a deadly outcome.

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Written by: Robert Green

This nonfiction book brings real world issues to life with vivid pictures and statistics. Students will learn what poverty means, what it looks like around the world and in our backyards.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
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On Our Street: Our First Talk About Poverty 

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On Our Street: Our First Talk About Poverty 

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Written by: Dr. Jillian Roberts, Jaime Casap

This wonderful, eye opening non fiction book is a great way to teach students about poverty on the streets and in their towns. This read aloud is a great source to start the discussion of homelessness and what it means to be homeless.

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Written by: By: Virginia Loh-Hagan

This nonfiction book is all about being compassionate. This is an important topic for students to learn about especially when they are looking to make a difference, actions speak louder than words. In this nonfiction book students will learn the value of being kind to others, even when they are different than us and how they can volunteer their time to make a difference.

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# data[].attributes.headline
The Cardboard Shack Beneath The Bridge: Helping Children Understand Homelessness

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The Cardboard Shack Beneath The Bridge: Helping Children Understand Homelessness

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Written by: Tim Huff

This picturebook's purpose is to teach young children about what it is like to be homeless and what it really means. Young children struggle with the concept of homeless and this book does a great job of explaining it in a child friendly manner.

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Written by: Robin Nelson

This nonfiction book teaches children how to be caring towards others and what they can do to help other people in need. This is an interactive read aloud book that gets children really thinking about how they can help and make a difference in someones life.

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By: Stephanie Simpson McLellan

In the story, "The Christmas Wind" we meet Jo, a young girl, her sick mother Merry, and her little baby brother, Christopher. They are a family struggling to find warmth in the winter. They sneak into a barn to try and keep warm when the owner finds them because the baby was crying. In this heartfelt book, young readers will learn about determination at a young age.

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Written by: Rebecca Upjohn

This children's story follows a young girl named Lily and her encounters with the "paper man" a homeless man that sells papers. The reader follows Lily and how she is scared of a man she does not know because he is different. When the weather changes to bitter cold, her heart changes too and sees Ray with new eyes.

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Written by: Avi Slodovnick

I choose this picturebook to help support what can a community do to help, subtopic.

This book is a read aloud video of the story "The Tooth" In this picture book there is a little girl who goes to the dentist and on her way she meets a man sitting on the sidewalk. After Marissa looses her teeth she puts them in the man's shoe box so the tooth fairy would bring him money.

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The Tooth [Slovdovnick, Avi] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Tooth

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Written by:Vincent Alexander

This nonfiction book shows children how they can be active citizens in their communities. Young Readers are shown how they can volunteer in their community to help make a difference.

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Written by: Monica Gunning

This picturebook is about a young girl named, Zettie and her mother and how they came to America from Jamaica. When Zettie's father dies her mother was forced to make touch choices to take care of her young daughter. This is a story about determination and what it is like to be homeless.

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Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine
Zettie and her Mama left their warm and comfortable home in Jamaica for an uncertain life in the United Sates, and they are forced to live in Mama's car.
Zettie and her Mama left their warm and comfortable home in Jamaica for an uncertain life in the United States. With Papa gone, Mama can't find a steady job that will sustain them and so they are forced to live in their car. But Mama's unwavering love, support, and gutsy determination give Zettie the confidence that, together, she and her mother can meet all challenges.

Monica Gunning's moving and authentic story about homelessness in an American city was developed with the help of the Homeless Children's Network in San Francisco. Elaine Pedlar's strong and lively illustrations bring the story to life in vibrant chalk pastel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:

9780892393084

Publisher:

Lee & Low Books

Publication date:

05/01/2014

Pages:

32

Sales rank:

1,057,114

Product dimensions:

8.10(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.40(d)

Lexile:

AD560L ( what's this?)

Age Range:

5 - 7 Years

About the Author

Monica Gunning was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and immigrated to the United States to work and further her education. After graduating, she became a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. The author of critically acclaimed poetry books for children, she has also published extensively in magazines and anthologies. She lives in Laguna Niguel, California.

Elaine Pedlar was born in Queens, New York, the youngest girl of seven children. She graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1987 and, since then, has been a fashion designer. Single and living in a loft in Brooklyn, she has nine nieces and nephews that she loves dearly. This is her first book for children.

Editorial Reviews

"The story is heart-wrenching and an eye opener to maybe those that do not have to live a life of indignities.The illustrations are done with chalk as cartoon-ish chunky characters. The colors are mainly muted and darker which adds to the overall sadness of the book. The book is targeted to 6+ and much discussion can take place with the reading and rereading of this book. Think about it and read this winner of a book. 5 stars!" — Reading Authors

Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine

From the Publisher

The opening of Gunning's (Under the Breadfruit Tree) suspenseful picture book sets the stage for the imperiled existence of a girl and her mother who live in their car. Newcomer Pedlar uses the color red, emanating from a police car's lights, to flood the spread with the urgency of sirens blaring, as the mother attempts to shield her child; the mother's wide-eyed expression conveys her fear and concern for the child. A palpable affection between mother and daughter infuses the text and provides reassurance to readers as the characters face challenge after challenge. In the mornings, they use the rest room in a park before Zettie sets off to school and her mother goes in search of a job; at night, the woman reads a library book to Zettie in the back of their car. The girl's classmates call her "Junk Car Zettie," and as she attempts to flee the bullies she becomes separated from her mother. The reunion between mother and child makes clear their gratitude for each other, and the promise of a new job and a place to live ends the book on a hopeful note. Pedlar's use of somber colors and generous white space effectively depicts the girl's sense of isolation and sadness, but the stylized characterizations take on a cartoonish quality with their clashing colors and exaggerated, often distorted facial features. Unfortunately, children may wind up viewing homeless people as alien or strange beings unlike themselves. Ages 6-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 3-After her father died, eight-year-old Zettie and her mother left Jamaica in search of education and a better life in America. They now live in an old car. Zettie's daily routine includes waking up to blaring sirens and flashing lights, washing in cold water in a park rest room, being bullied by boys at school, and feeling hungry and resentful. Spending time with a friend who is also homeless, and a reassuring encounter with a concerned policeman bring comfort at crucial moments, but the girl's life is not an easy one. Not since Maurice Sendak's We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy (HarperCollins, 1993) has a picture book dealing with homelessness maintained such emotional intensity. The illustrations call to mind images by Georges Rouault. Pedlar's figures are defined with thick black lines; exaggerated features and the expressionistic use of color accentuate the family's suffering. In the end, Mama's successful day helping at a Health Fair and the promise of a job lead to a bed and shower in a motel-and hope. Children will be moved by Zettie's plight and relieved that there are options.-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

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Customer Reviews

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Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones MagazineZettie and her Mama left their warm and comfortable home in Jamaica for an uncertain life in the United Sates, and they are forced to live in Mama's car.Zettie and her Mama left their warm and comfortable home in Jamaica...

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Written by:  Erin Gunti

This is a picturebook about a young girl who goes to live with her mother in a women's homeless shelter. This story is about a young girl struggling with the idea of not being in her home. Throughout the story you watch her mom transform the women's shelter into an adventure. Then end of the book has great resources to get talking about shelters.

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Written by:  Tonya Bolden

In this picturebook the reader follows a young boy who makes sure to pray for the people around him, taking notice in the less fortunate than him and hoping they are safe and get taken care of.

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