No Place to Be : Voices of Homeless Children
by Judith Berck, foreword by Robert Coles
Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews , February 15, 1992
Robert Coles's incisive foreword heralds much of the feeling evoked
here: shock, anger, disgust. Concentrating mostly on N.Y.C. (which has the
largest need and the largest program for families), free-lancer Berck presents
the results of 30+ interviews with children in highly effective sound-bites.
Articulate, heartfelt first-person narration alternates with statistics,
occasional poems created in workshops for the homeless, and historical overview:
Riis, gentrification, the Depression; ``safety nets'' that may not work;
reasons for homelessness that most readers without direct contact won't
have imagined; and desperate measures taken to avoid it (11 people squashing
together in two rooms). Of the ``accommodations'' provided--hotels (a 15th-story
walk-up; blood on the sheets), barracks (arbitrary lights-out)--all are
horrifying; with social services offered, family-style shelters, even with
their oppressively strict rules, present the most hope. Infuriating facts
(federal laws that prohibit the exorbitant sums spent on hotels from going
instead to permanent housing) punctuate the outrage of such aptly titled
chapters as ``School on the Fly,'' in which a teen travels an hour to take
siblings to their school before going to his own. Sections on health or
``Dreams and Visions'' make painfully clear how quickly despair sets in.
In the words of one youngster, ``Children live/ In darkness and with secrets/
When wanting to talk,/ Sometimes they're speechless.'' A powerful plea that
deserves a hearing. Notes; adult-oriented bibliography. Photos not seen.
(Nonfiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All
rights reserved.
From Horn Book
Berck has assembled a disheartening barrage of statistics, descriptions,
and facts that expose the extent of homelessness among American families.
More than half of the book consists of powerful commentary, in the form
of interviews and poems, by homeless children. Bib. -- Copyright ©
1992 The Horn Book, Inc. All rights reserved.
Book Description
"With meticulous notes and an impressive bibliography of adult materials,
this ground-breaking book may encourage other more fortunate children to
contemplate their role in a society that has failed to provide for so many
of its children." -- Horn Book ALA Notable Book
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