Public libraries all over the
world have regular visitors who
do not have permanent homes.
Libraries are warm, comfortable
places that are open to all
and can provide hours of engagement,
as well as a place to
connect with necessary social
services.
The library is also full
of stories, true or almost true,
about people who are homeless,
or by people who love
someone who is.
Real stories:
Travels with Lizbeth
by Lars Eighner.
As Lars wrote, “When I began
writing this account I was living
under a shower curtain in
a stand of bamboo in a public
park. I did not undertake
to write about homelessness,
but wrote what I knew, as an
artist paints a still life, not because
he is especially fond of
fruit, but because the subject
is readily at hand.” This is
Lars Eighner’s account of one
man’s experience of homelessness,
a story of physical
survival, and the triumph of
the artistic spirit in the face of
enormous adversity.
Humans of New York
by Brandon Stanton.
Brandon Stanton set out to
single-handedly create a photographic
census of New York
City. Armed with his camera,
he began crisscrossing the city,
covering thousands of miles
on foot, all in his attempt to
capture ordinary New Yorkers
in the most extraordinary of
moments. The result of these
efforts was “Humans of New
York,” a vibrant blog and,
with four hundred color photos,
Humans of New York is the
book inspired by the blog.
Looking Glass Brother
by Peter von Ziegesar.
After a string of affairs, author
Peter’s father left his mother and
remarried. Several stepchildren,
including Little Peter, entered
von Ziegesar’s life from the
looking glass of his father’s new
family. Little Peter was an angelic
and brilliant young boy who spiraled
down during adolescence
to become one more homeless
man living on the street. In this
big-hearted memoir, Peter von
Ziegesar tells us about the responsibility
he feels for his brother,
a man with the same name as
his, but a man who lives a desperate
and very different life.
No House to Call My
Home: Love, Family, and
Other Transgressions
by Ryan Berg.
Ryan Berg tells stories from the
frontlines of LGBTQ homelessness
and foster care. Berg,
a young social worker, faced
young people who have battled
extreme poverty, experienced
unbalanced opportunities, structural
racism, and homophobia.
Junior Fiction:
Paper Things
by Jennifer Jacobson.
Told in an open, authentic voice,
this nuanced story of hiding in
plain sight may have young readers
thinking about homelessness
in a whole new way. When Ari’s
mother died four years ago, she
had two fi nal wishes: that Ari
and her older brother, Gage,
would stay together always, and
that Ari would go to Carter, the
middle school for gifted students.
Suffering in foster care,
the siblings leave and try to make
it on their own, but one of these
promises may have to be broken.
Crenshaw
by Katherine Applegate.
In her first children’s novel
since
The One and Only Ivan,
winner of the Newbery Medal,
Katherine Applegate delivers
an unforgettable and magical
story about family, friendship,
and resilience. Jackson
and his family have fallen on
hard times. His parents, his
little sister, and their dog may
have to live in their minivan.
Crenshaw is a large, outspoken
and imaginary cat. He has
come back into Jackson’s life
to help him. In unexpected
ways, friends matter, whether
real or imaginary.
Laura Bilyea is a librarian in
Mississauga Library System
Originally published in Tough Times
