Where am I?
Recommended Books or Reading
Books to Read with Children on the Topic of Poverty
What Can I do to Make a Difference (available for check-out)
Richard Zimmerman
This book provides project ideas on a number of topics: environment, animal rights, human welfare, human rights, health, and peace.
The Gardener (available for check-out)
Sarah Stewart
This book is about intergenerational connections and how a young girl made a difference in the lives of others with her garden. (picture book)
The Kids Can Help Book (available for check-out)
Suzanne Logan
This book is written for kids to give them ways to help the homeless and hungry, the elderly, the sick or disabled, other kids in need, and the planet and animals.
A Student’s Guide to Volunteering (available for check-out)
Theresa Digeronimo
This book is a guide for teens to volunteering. It offers information about six fields of public service: education, environment, health care, the needy, politics, and substance abuse.
Lives Turned Upside Down (available for check-out)
Jim Hubbard
This book is about homeless children in their own words and photographs. (picture book)
Someplace to Go (available for check-out)
Maria Testa
This book is about a little boy who is homeless. (picture book)
Soni’s Mended Wings (available for check-out)
Peter Eyvindson
This is the story of Soni, a physically and mentally challenged child in Haiti who finally receives hope and help. (picture book)
The Family Under the Bridge
by Natalie Savage Carlson, Garth Williams (Illustrator)
The story of a Parisian tramp, Armand, who finds a ready-made family to live with him under the bridge, was a Newbery Honor book when it was first published more than 30 years ago. Ages 7-11.
Beatrice's Goat
by Page McBrier, Lori Lohstoeter (Illustrator)
Based on the true account of one family who received aid from Heifer Project International, a charitable organization that donates livestock to poor communities around the world, this moving story is eloquently and gracefully recounted.
Esperanza Rising
by Pam Munoz Ryan
When Esperanza and Mama are forced to flee to the bountiful region of Aguascalientes, Mexico, to a Mexican farm labor camp in California, they must adjust to a life without fancy dresses and servants they were accustomed to on Rancho de las Rosas.
The Little Match Girl
by H. C. Andersen, Rachel Isadora
Andersen's tale about a little girl who's afraid to go home because she hasn't sold enough matches is a classic. The little girl, bareheaded and barefoot, curls up in a corner, lighting match after match to warm herself.
Fly Away Home
by Eve Bunting, Ronald Himler
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.
Money Hungry
by Sharon G. Flake
13-year-old Raspberry Hill knows first-hand that living in the housing project is better than being out on the streets, but she and her mother are equally determined to move to a safer neighborhood.
A Shelter in Our Car
by Monica Gunning, Elaine Pedlar
Kindergarten-Grade 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.