Homelessness in the United States increased by 18% from 2023 to 2024, and 12.1 million children experienced housing instability in 2022. Sadly, these numbers will likely continue to rise as cost of living skyrockets, wages stagnate, and support systems go unfunded.
Children will meet unhoused neighbors in their community, if they haven’t already. These four picture books, which depict people experiencing homelessness, humanize the crisis, and provide a much-needed window into their lives.
A Place for Us by James Ransome
This wordless picture book opens with a mother walking to school to pick up her child at the end of the day. The two eat dinner at a cafeteria, then walk to the library, where they remain until it closes. Afterward, the mom finds an empty bench at a park, and her lap becomes the child’s pillow for the night. In the morning, the child brushes his teeth at a water fountain and returns to school. Ransome’s book is a powerful story and the warm illustrations show the loving, nurturing bond between mother and son, as well as the community areas that become their home in lieu of a real one. In his author’s note, Ransome says he hopes this picture book sparks readers to ask: “In a country of vast resources, what is our responsibility to those without access to the basic necessities?” After reading this, my daughter had an easy answer: we give them a home.
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Old Blue Is My Home by Lita Judge
The child narrator in this picture book does have a home: an old blue van, where she lives with her parents, a sibling, and a dog and cat. She loves Old Blue, but also feels insecure when she goes to school, and other kids treat her differently since she doesn’t have a ‘real’ home. In her author’s note, Judge notes she bases this story on her own childhood, where her father’s frequently changing work locations in remote areas made it difficult for the family to have a dependable home, so they frequently lived in their old blue van. Back matter also includes a section on housing insecurity.
I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely & Matt James
When Belle’s class learn how to draw an owl, the other students marvel at how beautiful and wise Belle’s owl looks and wonder how she drew one so well. What they don’t know is that Belle and her mother live in a car in a park, where a nearby owl roosts. When a new boy begins school who seems to have a similar living situation, Belle takes him under her wing.
Hello, Mister Blue by Daria Peoples
While the other picture books depict children experiencing housing insecurity, this one is about an unhoused adult, though still told from a child’s perspective. Mister Blue and the narrator’s father served in the war together, and afterward, played music together. Now Mister Blue lives outside, and the narrator has a lot of questions: “Is he cold? Is he wet? Is he hungry?” It’s a simple, lyrical story that perfectly depicts the questions children have about homeless community members.
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