Finding "home" at the Library

 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