How to use this Page

Today, 10 October, is World Homeless Day. This day is dedicated to increasing awareness of the global issues surrounding homelessness, as well as getting people involved in their community to help meet the needs of homeless people locally. The increased publicity and solidarity of the global platform helps to strengthen grassroots campaigns at the most local level. The problems regarding homelessness are multifaceted.

The post Homelessness: issues by the numbers and how you can help appeared first on OUPblog.

Add a Comment

<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE <![endif]-->
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best wishes,
Donna M. McDine
Multi Award-winning Children's Author

Ignite curiosity in your child through reading!

Connect with Donna McDine on Google+

A Sandy Grave ~ January 2014 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2014 Purple Dragonfly 1st Place Picture Books 6+, Story Monster Approved, Beach Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Powder Monkey ~ May 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Historical Fiction 1st Place, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

Hockey Agony ~ January 2013 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ 2015 Purple Dragonfly Book Award Honorable Mention Picture Books 6+, New England Book Festival Honorable Mention 2014, Story Monster Approved and Reader's Favorite Five Star Review

The Golden Pathway ~ August 2010 ~ Guardian Angel Publishing, Inc. ~ Literary Classics Silver Award and Seal of Approval, Readers Favorite 2012 International Book Awards Honorable Mention and Dan Poynter's Global e-Book Awards Finalist

Add a Comment

A new report from America’s Promise Alliance finds that students who leave high school without graduating are often overwhelmed by a cluster of negative impacts of poverty. You can read the full 72 page report (pdf) online, but here are some highlights (if that’s even the right word) to note:

• Approximately 20 percent of young people (that’s about 800,000 per year) don’t graduate from high school
• Toxic home, school, or neighborhood environments–sources of violence, disrespect and adverse health–lead young people to stop going to school
• Connectedness to others can lead young people both toward and away from school
• Even young people who are able to “bounce back” from an interrupted education are often unable to re-engage in the longer-term

So what does all this mean for libraries?

Libraries are uniquely poised to be an ideal space for young people looking to continue or re-engage with their education. We offer materials, programs and services regardless of income or whether a patron’s parent is incarcerated. Public libraries can be an island of consistency for young people who experience homelessness or move often, leaving little connection with the multiple schools in which they enroll.

Library policies, however, don’t always support young people whose educational path varies from the four year high school model. Here are three ways you can help teens at risk of dropping out or trying to re-engage with their education:

1. Reconsider “truancy.” Some public libraries immediately report or kick out teens who try to access books and services during the school day, but where does that leave a young person who may be trying to find out how to earn a GED, how to qualify for food stamps, or even how to enroll in a neighborhood school? In school libraries, students with unique medical situations or other tutoring needs may find themselves with alternative schedules and need a place to go for part of the day. Does your library support these teens?

2. Revisit your post-secondary resources. If your local school community is largely focused on getting students into four-year colleges, you may be missing students with other plans. Does your test prep collection include GED prep or materials for students interested in joining the military, like ASVAB for Dummies? Does your college section include information on local community or technical colleges? Also remember that older teens may be struggling to complete high school after their peers have already graduated; they still need your help!

3. Work with community partners. The America’s Promise Alliance report includes information on the 16 partner groups from each interview city, but there are many, many more–including groups that want to work with libraries. Some libraries now have relationships with hospitals and have social workers on staff. Which groups in your community could help address the unique needs of teens struggling to stay engaged or re-engage with their education?

Looking for help starting the conversation with a teen at your library? Check out Answering Teens’ Tough Questions, part of YALSA’s Teens at the Library series. 

Add a Comment

Through the sincere and straightforward storytelling of Odie and the Stray Kitten, Author Kristen Mott shares a lovely message of just how meaningful showing kindness toward animals can be.

Add a Comment

This should be a sad tale but instead is up-lifting. Much of that is due to the protagonist’s wry voice: Twelve-year-old Bee (short for Beatrice) is an orphan and works for a traveling carnival, living in the back of a truck with nineteen-year-old Pauline.

Add a Comment

Title: Great Joy 
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Illustrator: Bagram Ibatoulline
32 pages
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Publ. Date: Oct. 9, 2007


It's a pretty safe bet that a book by Kate DiCamillo will be a winner and Great Joy is no exception.  The plot itself is fairly simple, but the power of the book lies in DiCamillo's skillful writing and extraordinary ability to provoke an emotional response in her readers by combining child-like wonder with a compassion for others. I'm not admitting anything, but this book might have made me cry. That's all I'm saying.

From her apartment window, young Frances watches an organ grinder with his monkey who plays every day on the same street corner. She wonders where they go at night, but her mother assures her, "everyone goes somewhere." Frances is unsatisfied with this response and seeks him out to discover he spends his nights on the same corner. On her way to church, Frances invites the man to come and watch her in the Christmas pageant. When he shows up just as Frances delivers her line, she cannot help but be inspired with, "Great Joy!"

I admit I have a soft spot for snowy winter cityscapes. Our entire view of the unnamed city in Great Joy is of a single street corner at "Fifth and Vine." We view this location from a number of vantage points: from the apartment window, the building stoop, the street, at day, at night and as such we are privy to a variety of perspectives. It's wonderful the way Frances can look out her window and see the world below, thoughtfully considering the lives of the people she sees. Both the text and Ibatoulline's gorgeous illustrations effectively communicate that the city is not a faceless void, but a place for intimacy, compassion and individual relationships to shine. Indeed the backdrop of bustling, ever-changing life brings Frances' and the organ grinder's humanity into sharp relief.
Needless to say, I highly recommend adding this book to your stack of Christmas reading. There is a religious element to the story, but it is not the focus and both religious and secular families will take much away from the book.

Want More?
Visit the author's website.
Watch an interview with the author as she talks about moving from novels to picture books. At Reading Rockets.

Add a Comment

Title: Don’t Breathe a Word Author: Holly Cupala Publisher: Harper Teen ISBN: 978-0061766695

 

May Contain Spoilers

From Amazon:

Review:

If I hadn’t received a review copy of Don’t Breathe a Word, it probably would have never even been a blip on my radar, and that would have been too bad, because it is a compellingly readable title.  I did have to engage a heavy suspension of disbelief during my time with Joy, because some of the plot elements did not work for me, and seemed highly unlikely. 

Joy has been suffering from debilitating asthma her entire life.  She has been in and out of the hospital after severe reactions and bouts with pneumonia.  Several times during her short life, she has been inches away from death.  Only the quick reactions of her caretakers and the emergency staff at the hospital have saved her life.  Fearful that any mold or dust might cause an immediate and unfortunate reaction, her mother keeps their house spotless.  Joy’s older brother is assigned to take care of her, to make sure that she is sheltered from an allergic reaction to anything.  Joy is smothered and unhappy, but her parents won’t take any chances with her health.

When she meets handsome, wealthy Asher, she thinks her life is going to change for the better.  Her parents approve of him, and soon, Asher is given the responsibility of caring for Joy. Of keeping her safe.  Only with Asher, Joy is imprisoned in a different kind of cage. Asher is possessive and has an explosive temper, and soon Joy is willing to do anything to keep him happy.  As her friendships slide and Asher becomes her world, Joy feels a different kind of fear.  When his abuse turns from verbal to physical, she is terrified.  Desperate, she fakes her kidnapping and heads to Seattle, to hide from Asher among the homeless population.

The premise is compelling and instantly had me hooked.  How would I survive if I was homeless?  I kept wondering if I would get along as well as Joy, as she meets danger at every turn.  She has to find food for herself, a safe haven to sleep, and clothes for the upcoming winter.  The trials she faces on the streets are perilous and frightening.  There are scary people willing to take advantage of her and worse, do her physical harm.  Her frail health is also a concern.  What happens when she runs out of her inhalers?  How will she survive a bout of sickness or a severe asthma attack on her own?

There were two elements of the story that didn’t work for me, the biggest being Joy’s precarious health.  She is forced to weather the ha

Add a Comment

Okay, I have to confess: I snatch Dana's books at review group. She and Beth Kephart are two writers that pull you into the characters' feelings so artfully.

Drew, a loner and fellow rat lover, lives with her single mom who has opened a gourmet cheese shop in central California. Since it is a few years before the trend of "trendy food shops" profits are lean, but the bills are not. Also in the shop are gorgeous Nick, the pasta maker and Swoozie, the clerk and replacement grandma for Drew. One of Drew's jobs is to throw out the expired food to the alley which is whisked away. One night in the alley she meets Emmett Crane who lives on their thrown out foods. Emmett has a secret and Drew is determined to learn more about him. His quest sweeps her up. Does the mission succeed? One thing is for sure, the friendship does.

Wonderfully written so that we see into the souls of these two kids. Oh, and the story is told by Drew as an 18-year-old attending Berkeley. That perspective makes the story special.

ENDERS' Rating: *****


Dana's Website

Add a Comment

Laura E. Williams, illustrated by Craig Orback,
The Can Man
Lee and Low Books, 2010.

Ages 5-10

In Laura E. Williams’ The Can Man, a young boy awakens to compassion. Tim’s bi-racial family remembers when Mr. Peters lived in their building, so they don’t respond to him as the homeless can collector he’s become since he lost his job. Plot tension develops quickly: Tim wants a skateboard for his birthday; his family, not well off themselves, can’t afford it, and Tim’s solution is morally dubious.

Craig Orback’s respectful, sensitive oil paintings depict life in a tree-lined neighborhood of neat three-story apartment buildings. One day Tim gets an idea, and while young readers will identify with his excitement as he begins to collect cans himself to earn money, they’ll also experience an unsettling prick of conscience, for Tim hasn’t realized, as they will have, that he’s taking the cans Mr. Peters relies on for income.

The neighborhood grocer and Tim’s mom both mention that Mr. Peters usually collects those cans, but Tim’s fixation on the skateboard has deafened his conscience. It’s only when he runs into Mr. Peters himself, clutching at his tattered coat on a winter Saturday, his shopping cart nearly empty, that Tim begins to consider the consequences of his greed.

Orback and Williams, who have each won numerous awards for their respective projects, make a fine team for The Can Man. Both Mr. Peters and Tim get what they need by the end of the story. Between the lines and through the images, an unspoken message is that young people develop moral sensitivity through the example of their elders. Tim has wise role models in his mother and the grocer as well as in Mr. Peters, whose humanity shines through despite potentially embittering circumstances. Tim is a fortunate boy, and young readers will likely take in many levels of meaning from this subtle, powerful story.

Charlotte Richardson
March 2011

Add a Comment

TEATRO VISTA, THEATRE WITH A VIEW is firmly committed to sharing and celebrating the riches of Latino culture with all Chicago theatre audiences. This commitment stems from the belief that there are as may similarities as there are differences, and that perhaps the answer to breaking down the walls of prejudice and stereotypes lies in understanding these differences. Ultimately, it is through this "view" that Teatro Vista intends to bridge the gap between Latino and non-Latino cultures in Chicago.

A Message from the Founders Henry Godinez, Director-Founder Edward F. Torres, Artistic Director-Founder WE MET IN 1989, while working on a play together here in Chicago. We both felt that it was a shame that Latinos weren't getting roles outside of stereotypical casting. So we founded Teatro Vista. We hoped that all of Chicagoland could enjoy the sort of theatre that we had envisioned. Our Mission Statement is from our hearts and we hope that our "view" is one you share. We hope you like our "Theatre with a View" and will visit us in person, as well as our website, as often as you can.

Display Comments Add a Comment