I haven’t encountered too many middle grade novels about homelessness for kids, but two good ones happened across my path recently. If you haven’t encountered it personally, child homelessness isn’t something you and your kids have thought about. Reading one or both of these books can help remedy that. These stories show young readers that homeless kids are just like them, with the same hopes and dreams. They have friends, love their parent(s), and are trying to make the best of a bad situation. I hope you’ll give them a read.
Hotel Oscar Mike Echo by Linda MacKillop
Sierra likes to pretend she has a cooking show. She dreams of a day when her mom owns her own restaurant. But with her mom’s PTSD after the Iraq War, what Sierra truly longs for is a Hotel Oscar Mike Echo (or HOME in the military alphabet, which Sierra likes to use). In fact, she thinks she maybe heard a promise from God that someday she would have a home where all the burners on the stove work, the bathrooms have hot water, and she wouldn’t have to share a room with her mom. And that promise does come true. Just not in the way Sierra expected.
Sierra comes home from school to find Mom has packed the car. They are leaving their apartment. Again. They wind up at a shelter for women and children run by a couple named the Goodwins. Sierra’s mom chaffes against the rules like curfew and going to church. But Sierra finds comfort and stability in the Goodwins’ kindness, even when things are rocky at school. When her mom spirals downward, Sierra must make an impossible choice.
I like the distinctive Christian perspective this book takes. Sierra’s mom may be estranged from God, but Sierra prays and likes going to church with the Goodwins. Even though Sierra is still homeless at the end of the book and her mom has taken off, the closing is strongly filled with hope.
A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser
When June, her little sister, and her mom are brought to Huey House after her dad’s death and mom’s debilitating depression, June is shocked to learn they’ve been placed in a homeless shelter. Worse, June can’t bring in her beloved viola. Tyrone has lived at Huey House three years. When his best friend moves out because his mom found a stable job and an apartment, he feels betrayed. Later, June and Tyrone learn the city plans to improve homeless statistics by removing families before they are ready. They band together to advocate for their home.
There’s more complexity to this beautiful story from the author of the beloved Vanderbeekers series than I could fit above. The fact that June came from the stable home makes her a type of “everyman” character that kids will truly identify with. There’s a lovely subplot with June and her viola. She and Tyrone get lessons from a musical recluse who lives across from the shelter. A Duet for Home beautifully weaves a powerful story about homelessness.
Novels about Homelessness for Younger Kids
Don’t feel like your kids are quite ready for these middle grade novels about homelessness? Maybe start with some older chapter books like The Boxcar Children or The Family Under the Bridge. These both explore homelessness in a very gentle way.
*I received a free copy of Hotel Oscar Mike Echo, and I share an agent with the author. I was not obligated to post a positive or any review. All opinions are my own.
