Youth Homelessness and Displacement

Youth Homelessness and Displacement

Part One: Introduction 

       As a group, we determined that youth homelessness encompassed ages birth-teens who have found themselves homeless or displaced from their families by external and internal factors. These children and young adults have either left their homes or been forced out due to financial or violence issues. The stories in this collection range in complexity for elementary to young adult levels. We have chosen to include both fiction and nonfiction texts to show perspectives and create a mood around the subject. Some of our texts are informational, some are actual accounts of homeless youths' experiences, and some are fictional accounts that set a tone for this topic.

        This text set focuses more on young adults who have found themselves homeless. "Reading about different kinds of places may change students' previously held views about cities, or in the case of city dwellers, affirm their sense of identity and belonging. As they are transported into these urban spaces through literature, young adults expand their view of the world and what it means to be a citizen in it." (Thomas, 2011, p14) The picture books are used for perspective topic support and introduce the topic. Along with the texts, we have a Reading Rainbow clip to go along with one of the books and a DVD for visual media support.

          Homelessness is a larger issue than most people realize. Children can find themselves in untimely situations which these books can help them work through these situations. Almost two million children in American will face a period of homelessness at some point in their life (Ryan & Kelly, p2) Not only will these books help children who are facing the problem of homelessness, it will make a class aware of the situation. “Homeless children and their families have been either invisible in school or blamed for the weaknesses and defects in their learning” (Kim,2013, p.161 ). It is important for teachers and other student to stop this from happening. Often, we make assumptions about homeless children that are not necessarily true. One study showed that teachers “held stereotypical beliefs and had limited information about homeless children and their families. They naively believed that homeless children were messy, chaotic, and dysfunctional and that these behaviors would need to be fixed. The pre-service teachers did not expect that homeless mothers are interested in their children’s learning.” (Kim, 2013, p.167)  If teachers and students are aware of the situation, it will make them an informed citizen which is what we want for our future.  Our text set includes two books that inspire community projects and active participation to help fix the problem.  This can inspire a class project to improve the community and help the local homeless and displaced families. Resiliency is a common theme for the people in these books about homelessness. This is an important aspect for students to analyze because they can learn from this.  As Garcia (2013) states, “I find it important to ask my students how they, too, have developed a resiliency and community-based knowledge of the world around them.” (p. 53).  Students might find themselves in difficult situations and need to have strength and persevere to successfully manage different situations.  

Part Two: Annotation  (each title is linked to where you can purchase it on Amazon) 

1.     Bunting, E., & Himler, R. (1991). Fly Away Home. New York: Clarion Books.

Click on the picture for some teaching ideas! 

Click on the picture to hear the book read aloud! 

 a. Synopsis: This is a picture book about a little boy and his father who live in an airport because the airport is better than living on the streets.  They have to actively “not get noticed” by blending in with the crowd, dressing in blue jeans, sleep sitting up, and always being on the move.  One day the boy notices a bird trapped in the airport. He watches him try to get out, unsuccessfully for many days.  Finally the bird slips through an open door and the boy tells it to, “Fly away home.” 

      In this book the boy and his father are homeless because the father does not feel like he earns enough money to rent an apartment.  The father actually has a job.  He is a janitor in the city, so he leaves to go to work and the little boy stays with other people who live in the airport.  He pays them some money for them to watch the boy.  The kids earn some money by returning luggage carts. As the story goes on, the boy watches people meeting their family and friends and hugging each other.  They get to go to their homes and he wishes he had a home to go too.  Then he remembers the bird who was able to leave. It took him a while, but then it was able to fly free. Maybe one day the boy and his father will be able to fly away too.

      b.  Instructional uses: This book lends itself well to an interactive read aloud in grades 1-3.  First the students should look at the cover and notice how the boy and his father are dressed, their bags, and their facial expressions. While reading, point out the ways they act to “not be noticed” On page 16, have the students “turn and talk” about how the boy encourages the bird to persevere in his attempt to get out.  On pg. 21, discuss your “teacher thoughts” as you read about how the father has a job as a janitor and why that surprised you.  Discuss the illustrations on p. 30-31. How is the boy feeling, and how are the others around him feeling?  After reading go back and reread p. 29 the part about him going to school. Ask how they think the boy will be able to go to school while living at the airport?  After the book is finished, go back and ask them what they think the significance of the title is.  Then discuss the bird – p. 16 “Though I couldn’t hear it, I knew it was singing. Nothing made me as happy as that bird.”  And the last page “And when the bird left, when it flew free, I know it was singing.”  Why does the boy think these thoughts about the bird and his singing?  

This book was featured on Season 14 Episode 1 of Reading Rainbow as well.

2.   Carlson, N. S., & Williams, G. (1990). The family under the bridge. New York: Scholastic Inc.

Click on the picture for a sample readers theater performance! 

a.       Synopsis: This fictional text tells the story of a homeless man, Armand, who lives his homeless life under a bridge in Paris.  Through the text it discusses his “jobs” to get enough money to buy himself food.  One day, on his way back “home”, he discovers a mother and her three children in his “home”, under the bridge.  At first, he is very upset that they have invaded his space, but begins to warm up to them.   As Christmas nears, the children wish for a home for themselves and their mother.  Armand then creates a plan to make their wish come true.

b.      Instructional Ideas:  This text would work well for reading groups or literature circles for a variety of ages.  The text would be accessible for students within the 3^rd grade, higher-level readers in 2^nd and lower level readers in 4^th grade.  I think throughout the text there are many complex ideas that would work well for student discussions.  Within the smaller group setting students would be able to address the problems Armand faces before, during, and after the family came to his “home.”  The students would also be able to discuss various scenarios from the text and relate it back to themselves.  Through the idea of relating to the story they could do a “walk a mile in my shoes” activity where they are forced to really think about their life and the life Armand has and decipher the important details.  I think this text, because it can be accessible to many students, lends itself well to promote discussion about the feelings of those who are homeless, but have found a place to call home and discuss what that means to have a homeless home.

    

3.      DiSalvo, D. A. (1991). Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen. New York: Morrow Junior Books.

       

(Reading Rainbow Series Book)

a.       Synopsis: This is a fictional picture book about a boy who learns about what his Uncle Willie does at an urban soup kitchen. Uncle Willie’s nephew, our narrator, leads us to the soup kitchen after school where he shadows his uncle. The starts with characters travel through the neighborhood collecting food to make. The run across the Can Man who collects can, a woman sleeping on a park bench, and learn that even small children come to the soup kitchen. Uncle Willie teaches us how to prepare the food and serve it to the people at the soup kitchen are very grateful for the compassion that Uncle Willie shows them. This book does a very good job at not looking down at hungry/homeless people in that regards, but they make the soup kitchen itself seem better than most usually are. What I really love about this book is that it explains that not everyone who visits the soup kitchen is homeless, some just need a little extra support, some are elderly, and sometimes even the volunteers need extra help.

b.   Instructional Ideas: This book has great pictures, but has a lot more text than most picture books so it works better as a read aloud for Grades 1-3. Some teaching ideas to use this book with include visiting a soup kitchen and volunteering or starting a food drive to help the less fortunate. This book would be good in an empathy or compassion lesson as well. It teaches students not to judge the man walking down the street collecting cans or the woman sleeping on the park bench because all people have struggles and they do what they need to in order to get by.

Along with the book, there is a Reading Rainbow episode 2: Bread is for Eating that aired in Season 15 that features Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen.

4.     Kaye, C. B. (2007). A kids’ guide to hunger and homelessness: how to take action! Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Pub.

Click on picture for link to the workbook! 

a.       Synopsis: This is an informational text written at a level accessible to students of all age levels and designed as a workbook for middle school grades. This book is full of activities that children around the world have done to help out their communities with homeless and hunger needs. Some of the examples include college students who host hunger banquets, and a class that hosts a food collection drive for community pantries.  This book includes service-learning projects that have been organized by young people and old people. Along with the real-life stories, the book includes resources to achieve projects, note to adults and facts about homelessness and youth hunger. The 44 pages work book is set up in three sections or stages: Preparation, Action, Reflection. These pages include facts about hunger and homelessness and questions for students to answer on their own. One section even includes activities to accompany the book Soul Moon Soup.

b.      Instruction ideas: This book is an instructional guide all on its own. The book is full of worksheets and questions that teachers can ask or have students fill out. What makes this book so nice is that it follows a progression from planning to doing and then reflecting. Instead of telling the students what community service project to do and how to do it, it prompts them to take action and plan something that will help their community needs more than any other predesigned activity. There is a free online pdf of the workbook sections that teachers can print pages off to complete as a class and begin a project that will inform the class of issues in the community surrounding homelessness and hunger and develop a community service project to help the community. In a high school setting, the students could use this as community service and include the lower grades as volunteers to help out with what they designed on their own. To start this project, they could do a challenge walk which has the students take a walk around the community and then reflect on what they saw through writing, poetry, investigative journalism, etc. (Thomas, 2011, p.20). 

5.      Balliett, B. (2013). Hold fast . New York: Scholastic Press. 

Click on the picture to learn more about homelessness! 

    a. Synopsis: This chapter book is about a young girl, Early Pearl, who ends up in a Chicago family shelter after her father disappears. Early’s father, Dash was a librarian so the family has a love of language and books and they are able to use that knowledge throughout the story. Dash had been working hard to save money for the family so that they could someday have a house of their own. But when he goes missing, Early, her mother, and brother are in danger of losing their home and possibly worse after a violent break in. So, the family leaves their apartment and takes refuge from the snow at the city shelter. It is up to Early to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance by connecting patterns that she finds. Early and the other children at the shelter and at school start a writing campaign to raise awareness about homelessness as well which adds even more dimension to this story. This story teaches children that if they hold fast to their dreams, they will do great things. This book really makes the reader think about what it would be like to lose everything they have all at once and be faced with homelessness.
    b. Instructional Ideas:  This book is great for the middle school grades because of its language and storyline. Each chapter is named after a single word that has a role in that chapter. The chapter starts off with a definition of the word and then the sections of the chapter are broken up by the repetition of that word. The format of this book is something that could easily be the focus of the lessons because it is so unique. Teachers could have students find the places in the chapter that really sum up what that title word represents.
     This book also has a section where the main character is trying to start a campaign to raise awareness about housing for the homeless after she finds herself homeless. Using this book as inspiration, students could start their own campaign to raise awareness and develop ideas about how to help their community overcome homelessness and hunger. "Dreaming of better circumstances against all odds is a feature of the urban geography of challenge." (Thomas, 2011, p17) This book brings that urban dream to reality and can inspire students to take action to improve their community. 

6.     Van, D. W. (2006). Runaway. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Click on the picture for an interview with the author! 

a.       Synopsis: Since Holly’s drug-addicted mother died two years ago, she has lived in five foster homes.  She is now twelve years old and does not trust adults.  Her foster parents have often treated her badly, even abusively.  One day she finally decides to run away.  Previously, her teacher gave her a journal and told her she it might be helpful to write down her thoughts.  The entire book is written as journal entries describing Holly’s day to day experiences.  Many of her entries include poems she has composed.  Her struggles for food, shelter, safety and cleanliness become the focus of her life as she travels across the country and ultimately lives in a cardboard box house that she made for herself.    Holly doesn’t see herself as homeless, but rather as a gypsy.  She prefers to sleep in libraries and schools.  She enjoys reading, loves dogs, and wants to become a vet someday.  She teaches herself math and science from stolen text books.  Over the course of her journey and through her writing she learns to face her past and learns to accept love and kindness. 

b.      Instructional Ideas:  A great book club book to use with middle school students.  The character, Holly, was introduced in the book Sammy Keyes and the Sisters Mercy.  Students might want to read this book too.  They could also read Hatchet and compare how the characters from each book had to do different things to survive.  Children could keep their own journal entries as they read the book.  They could analyze how Holly comes to terms with her childhood and how writing in the journal has helped her accept her past and move forward.  Students could analyze Holly’s poems and discuss how writing poetry is another way to help people deal with their feelings.  Looking at each of the decisions that Holly made in the book, students could decide if they would make a similar or different decision and why.  Research could take place about the prevalence of homelessness in our area, why it happens, and what can be done to help people in this situation.  They could reflect on how their attitudes about homelessness have changed after reading this book. 

The following website includes instructional ideas developed by Elizabeth von Buchler http://www.lesliepreddy.com/yhba/08-09/Middle/runaway-vonBuchler.pdf

She broke the book into 3 parts and provided questions for pre-reading, during reading and post-reading. A list of vocabulary words is included, as well as numerous activities to accompany the text. 

7.      Fields, J. (2010). Kids growing up without a home: The changing face of modern families. Broomall, Pa: Mason Crest Publishers. 

Click on the picture for a video about homelessness in America!

  a. Synopsis: This is a nonfiction book describing different situations of real homeless people.  Being a nonfiction book, it has text features that are expected in this type of book, such as headings, pictures with captions, insets with statistics, and bolded vocabulary words.  There are “terms to understand” at the beginning of each chapter with questions at the end.  Each chapter also has a section entitled “Headlines”  which includes experts from articles published in newspapers.
      The first chapter describes families without a home, such as families that live in campgrounds in California, or a family that live in their van.  It also discusses causes of homelessness such as the economy and drug or alcohol abuse.  The second chapter talks about ways people have been helped to end their homelessness and to find a place to live.  The third chapter talks about how we all need a family and that a homeless people find a “family” on the streets.
      This is a very informative text to teach middle school aged children about why homelessness occurs and what can be done about it. 
    b.  Instructional ideas:  This book should be used with middle school children.  The layout and design of this text lends itself well to a good introduction to homelessness.  Each chapter should be read aloud and discussed.  Questions at the end of each chapter can aid in generating discussions.  Kids should generate questions that come up during the discussions and use these to guide to further research about homelessness. 
     One activity that could be done with this book include a privilege walk which a teacher would read a series of statements and students would move forwards or backwards according to whether or not it applies to them. (Thomas, 2011, p20) This activity helps students understand the diversity in the classroom and see that not every student has the same opportunities as others. 

8.      Ryan, K., & Kelley, T. (2012). Almost home: Helping kids move from homelessness to hope. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Click on the picture for the books website! 

a.    Synopsis: This non-fiction text discusses the life struggles of six young adults, Paulie, Muriel, Benjamin, Creionna, Keith, and Meagan, who find themselves homeless and lost.  The six young adults eventually find their way to Covenant House, the largest charity serving homeless and runway youth in North America.  Each person have his or her own battles to overcome. Paulie, a child of domestic violence, alcoholism, abandonment, and emotional abuse from his parents. Muriel, born with fetal alcohol syndrome, becomes addicted to drugs and becomes a prostitute on her way to finding the Covenant House.  Benjamin bounced through numerous foster homes and almost lost it all after being thrown out of college.  Creionna, a teen mother from New Orleans, left home to protect her child from damaging family members after Hurricane Katrina.  Keith, found motherless one day when she walked out on him and his two brothers and never came back.  And Meagan, who found herself homeless after revealing that she was gay to her grandmother.  Through the text you learn all about their struggles with being homeless and their journey to Covenant House where they get counseling and help for additional struggles.

b.   Instructional Ideas:  This text could be used in a variety of ways within the classroom.  I think this text lends itself well to the discussion about the homeless people within our neighborhoods.  This could provoke students to address the issue head on and discuss various ways in which they can become involved to help out those in need. Thomas (2011) states that, "characters struggle whether or not to escape the geography of challenge altogether for more privileged zones." (p.17) The characters in this book have that same struggle. I think this would work well with community events, such as food drives or encouraging students to volunteer at shelters.  In addition to the students taking the meaning of the text outside of the classroom, they could discuss and write about experiences, or connections they can make to the characters.  The telling of the characters stories lends itself well to the use of blogs or other social media sites to discuss on.

9.     Birch, T., Chalke, S., Patriarch Pictures (Firm), Manor Drive Productions, Inc., Lifetime Television (Firm), & New Video Group. (2012). Homeless to Harvard:  The Liz Murray Story . United States: Lifetime.

Click on the picture to learn more about Liz's Story! 

Click on the picture for an interview with the author!

a.       Synopsis: This is a Lifetime movie adapted from Liz Murray’s autobiography, Breaking Night.  Liz and her sister were living in a dysfunctional family in the Bronx.  Their mother was a drug addict and schizophrenic.  Their father was also a drug addict and he lacked social skills and was oblivious about parenting. Liz rarely attended school, was unkempt, and rarely had enough food to eat.  She was removed from their home and put in a group home.  She was then placed back with her mother, her sister and her grandfather.  At 15, after a run-in with her grandfather, she ran away with another girl who was being abused at home. She lived on the streets.  She saw her mother die from AIDS and realized she needed to finish school if she ever wanted to make a life for herself that was different than what she had experienced so far.  She went to high school and was very motivated to complete four years’ worth of work in two years, all while being homeless.  She earned a scholarship to Harvard University by winning an essay contest sponsored by The New York Times.  After experiencing a horrific, difficult childhood, living with parents who were incapable of providing a safe healthy environment, and then living on the streets, Liz Murray overcame adversity and finally took charge of her life, went to school, and was accepted at Harvard.

b.      Instructional Ideas: This movie could be shown in a high school classroom to learn about being homeless.  Students could discuss why people end up homeless and how society responds to them.  They could discuss why some people are able to get out of this situation and why it might be so difficult for others.  If interested, students could read the book Breaking Night in addition to watching the movie.   After watching this movie, they could find out more information about what happened to Liz Murray.   An article online from The Observer written Sept. 25, 2010 provided information about her.    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/26/liz-murray-bronx-harvard  The entire article could be shared or just the following few paragraphs: She graduated last summer. Oprah Winfrey gave her a chutzpah award and she met Bill Clinton. She has talked at events alongside Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev and the Dali Lama. She talks to teenagers about resisting the temptations of drugs and gangs. She also urges them not to use childhood hardship as an excuse not to take opportunities.Her father died in 2006, also of Aids. His saving grace was that he encouraged her to read – and stole books from libraries to give her a love of literature.She doesn't want her appearance now and her Harvard degree to fool anyone: "I was one of those people on the streets you walk away from."Further research about homelessness,  the role of communities, drug abuse, and defining success could be conducted in addition to seeing this movie.  

References: 

Garcia, A. (2013). Critical foundations in young adult literature: Challenging genre.  The Netherlands:Sense Publishers.

Kim, J. (2013). Confronting Invisibility: Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs toward Homeless Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41(2), 161-169.

Thomas, E. E. (Winter 2011). Landscapes of city and self: Place and identify in urban  young adult literature. The ALAN Review, 13-22.