September 1, 2021
Gr 4 Up-Maya, a white fifth grade student, has a secret she hopes no one at her San Francisco private school will uncover. After her father has a near-fatal accident, her family experiences homelessness, with Maya, her mother, and her little sister living in a shelter across town from her school while her dad recovers in a hospital. This book follows Maya during one fateful day in this secret life: on a long bus ride, at school, and back again. Matheson was inspired to write this story after talking with her own daughter about homelessness in the Bay Area and volunteering together at a family shelter. Authentic details make Maya's situation stark and real: She wears a braid to prevent lice, experiences hunger pains from a skipped breakfast, deals with having no raincoat on a stormy day, conceals her secret even from her best friend, and must protect her backpack with all her possessions from a mean girl. By turns heartbreaking and affirming, this novel reminds readers what is most important-and what we often take for granted. Tweens will identify with Maya and also learn from her. Maya's choice not to tell her teachers about her situation may raise some questions, but Maya's sense of pride comes through. VERDICT An important purchase for upper elementary and early middle school collections looking to provide a unique, complex perspective on homelessness.-Kate Fleming, Hosford M.S., Portland, OR
Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2021
What's a typical day like for a child who lives in a homeless shelter in San Francisco? Maya, 10, walks readers through hers. Mama has a job interview, so Maya rides the bus to school alone, leaving her breakfast--a banana--for her 2-year-old sister, Gabby, whom Mama, if hired, must bring to work. Maya knows Gabby, with severe food allergies, fusses when hungry. Ever since a distracted driver plowed into their dad's bicycle, he's been hospitalized, sedated, with a traumatic brain injury; he'll undergo surgery today. Maya attends a private school (tuition-free--Mama used to teach there, before the accident changed everything) in the affluent neighborhood where her family once lived. Students volunteer at a food pantry; now Maya's family depends on one. She's hidden her situation from classmates, even friends, dreading its discovery by a bullying mean girl. Yet Maya knows her White family is lucky: They have their own room at the shelter; Mama's employable; Dad, a freelance writer doing well before the accident, may do so again. But Matheson makes it clear that there are no guarantees. The home they rented was sold; skyrocketing rents put most housing beyond their means, as medical insurance premiums consumed their resources. Bright, self-conscious, and affectionate, Maya's a credible and appealing tour guide to living on the edge in an American city with vast income inequality and a fragile, fraying social safety net. Brings a pressing national crisis into clear focus for young readers; highly recommended. (preface, author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)
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