A comprehensive and thought provoking middle grade non fiction text, Shelter: Homelessness in our Community by Lisa Peterson and illustrated by Taryn Gee is full of valuable information for young activists.

Take a journey into the lives of people experiencing homelessness. Throw out everything you think you know about why the people in your city, your town, your community are without shelter. Thanks to the media and our own ingrained fears, we often misjudge those on the streets and make all kinds of assumptions. Lisa Peterson, thoughtfully lays out the myriad of reasons why people experience homelessness, why we need to confront our biases and what is required of society to best help those who are living in poverty.

This book was certainly eye opening for me as an adult. I had never stopped to think about and consider the different reasons people experience homelssness. It’s not something that was front and centre for me as a child. Now as an adult with children of my own and living in a major urban centre, it’s unavoidable. I appreciated having this resource so that when my own children have questions I can address them with kindness and compassion instead of with fear and bias. 

The book is full of sidebars with all kinds of extra content. Quotes from well known advocates, first hand accounts from people directly affected by homelessness, questions to make readers think critically and mythbusters, to address all of the misinformation about homelessness all make up the information in the sidebars. Readers also get to learn about what other children their age have done and continue to do to help those in their communities. Perhaps some of this extra information will spark some ingenuity in readers to come up with their own ways to help, or inspire them be compassionate. Lisa Peterson also acknowledges that with those experiencing drug addiction and mental health challenges, it can be scary when you encounter someone on the streets but through all of the reasons she provides, there are many ways we can help, even by just showing kindness. Shelter also makes the reader reflect on their own privilege and how quickly, especially since the start of the pandemic, that privilege can go away.

This text is timely, including information and data on homelessness since the start of the COVID 19 pandemic and how people are increasingly being affected by un and under employment, illness and disability caused by the current state of the world.

Filled with excellent illustrations by Taryn Gee and photos throughout, Shelter: Homelessness in our Community is an important text that needs to be in the hands of young people through school and classroom libraries along with public libraries.