“What are the best Children’s books about Being Homeless?” We looked at 86 of the top Kids Homelessness books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 18 titles, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Kids Homelessness” book lists, are ranked below by how many lists they appear on. The remaining 50+ titles, as well as the lists we used are in alphabetical order at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Lists It Appears On:
Since she left Jamaica for America after her father died, Zettie lives in a car with her mother while they both go to school and plan for a real home.
Lists It Appears On:
A young girl’s dream of attending school in her small Ugandan village is fulfilled after her family is given an income-producing goat. Based on a true story about the work of Project Heifer.
Lists It Appears On:
In her first novel since winning the Newbery Medal, Katherine Applegate delivers an unforgettable and magical story about family, friendship, and resilience. Jackson and his family have fallen on hard times. There’s no more money for rent. And not much for food, either. His parents, his little sister, and their dog may have to live in their minivan. Again.Crenshaw is a cat. He’s large, he’s outspoken, and he’s imaginary. He has come back into Jackson’s life to help him. But is an imaginary friend enough to save this family from losing everything? Beloved author Katherine Applegate proves in unexpected ways that friends matter, whether real or imaginary.…
Lists It Appears On:
On a cold winter day in Chicago, Early’s father disappeared, and now she, her mother and her brother have been forced to flee their apartment and join the ranks of the homeless–and it is up to Early to hold her family together and solve the mystery surrounding her father.…
Lists It Appears On:
Living in the family car in their small North Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina, desperate to improve their situation and unwilling to accept her overworked mother’s calls for patience, persuades her younger brother to help her in an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward that the owners are bound to offer.…
Lists It Appears On:
Since her father’s death, Cora, twelve, longs for a permanent home for herself, her special-needs sister, and their mother while navigating middle school and studying trees using her father’s field notes.
Lists It Appears On:
From beloved Governor General Literary Award–winning author Susin Nielsen comes a touching and funny middle-grade story about family, friendship and growing up when you’re one step away from homelessness. Felix Knuttson, twelve, is an endearing kid with an incredible brain for trivia. His mom Astrid is loving but unreliable; she can’t hold onto a job, or a home. When they lose their apartment in Vancouver, they move into a camper van, just for August, till Astrid finds a job. September comes, they’re still in the van; Felix must keep “home” a secret and give a fake address in order to enroll in school. Luckily, he finds true friends. As the weeks pass and life becomes grim, he struggles not to let anyone know how precarious his situation is. When he gets to compete on a national quiz show, Felix is determined to win — the cash prize will bring them a home. Their luck is about to change! But what happens is not at all what Felix expected
Lists It Appears On:
Based on a true story, tells of how a poor Ghanaian boy buys a chicken through a community loan program, which eventually helps lift him, his mother, and his community out of poverty.
Lists It Appears On:
When Ari’s mother died four years ago, she had two final wishes: that Ari and her older brother, Gage, would stay together always, and that Ari would go to Carter, the middle school for gifted students. So when nineteen-year-old Gage decides he can no longer live with their bossy guardian, Janna, Ari knows she has to go with him. But it’s been two months, and Gage still hasn’t found them an apartment. He and Ari have been “couch surfing,” staying with Gage’s friend in a tiny apartment, crashing with Gage’s girlfriend and two roommates, and if necessary, sneaking into a juvenile shelter to escape the cold Maine nights. But all of this jumping around makes it hard for Ari to keep up with her schoolwork, never mind her friendships, and getting into Carter starts to seem impossible. Will Ari be forced to break one of her promises to Mama? Told in an open, authentic voice, this nuanced story of hiding in plain sight may have readers thinking about homelessness in a whole new way.…
Lists It Appears On:
An old tramp, adopted by three fatherless children when their mother hides them under a bridge on the Seine, finds a home for mother and children and a job for himself.
Lists It Appears On:
In winning a medal she is no longer there to receive, a tight-lipped little Polish girl teaches her classmates a lesson. Includes a note from the author’s daughter, Helena Estes.
Lists It Appears On:
When Lizzie and Ben discover a homeless lady living in their neighborhood, they must reconcile their desire to help her with their mother’s admonition not to talk to strangers.
Lists It Appears On:
Day breaks over the town. Get up, everybody! It’s time to go to school. For the old man too, it’s time to wake up. The night was icy and he’s hungry. His name? He doesn’t know . . .
Lists It Appears On:
Based on a true story, the children of a slum in Caracas–with the help of a librarian–rally around the dream of creating a playground.
Lists It Appears On:
A small boy, not allowed to have a dog because times are tight, finds a starving kitten in a trash can on the same day his father loses his job.
Lists It Appears On:
A boy spends the day with Uncle Willie in the soup kitchen where he works preparing and serving food for the hungry.
Lists It Appears On:
A homeless boy who lives in an airport with his father, moving from terminal to terminal and trying not to be noticed, is given hope when he sees a trapped bird find its freedom.
Lists It Appears On:
Sam must decide how to spend the lucky money he’s received for Chinese New Year.
# | Books | Authors | Lists |
19 | Challah in the Ark | Shoshana Boyd Belfand and Amanda Hall | The Barefoot Mommy |
20 | A Haitian Story of Hope: Sélavi: That is Life: | Pragmatic Mom | |
21 | A Kids’ Guide to Hunger & Homelessness: How to Take Action! | Lets Lasso The Moon | |
22 | Ada’s Violin: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay | Susan Hood and Sally Wern Comport | The Barefoot Mommy |
23 | Almost Home | Joan Bauer | Goodreads |
24 | Another Bullshit Night in Suck City | Nick Flynn | Goodreads |
25 | Blink and Caution | Tim Wynne-Jones | Goodreads |
26 | Breakfast at Sally’s: One Homeless Man’s Inspirational Journey | Richard LeMieux | Goodreads |
27 | Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard | Liz Murray | Goodreads |
28 | Can’t Get There from Here | Todd Strasser | Goodreads |
29 | Chandra’s Magic Light: A Story in Nepal | Theresa Heine and Judith Gueyfier | The Barefoot Mommy |
30 | Criminal of Poverty: Growing Up Homeless in America | Lisa Gray-Garcia | Goodreads |
31 | December | Pragmatic Mom | |
32 | Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City | Matthew Desmond | Goodreads |
33 | Faith the Cow | Lets Lasso The Moon | |
34 | Falling Down | Eli Easton | Goodreads |
35 | Front Desk | Kelly Yang | Goodreads |
36 | Girl in Pieces | Kathleen Glasgow | Goodreads |
37 | I Am A Bear | Jean-François Dumont | Goodreads |
38 | I Can Hear the Sun: A Modern Myth | Pragmatic Mom | |
39 | I See You | Michael Genhart | Goodreads |
40 | If the World Were A Village | Lets Lasso The Moon | |
41 | Lizzie Flying Solo | Pragmatic Mom | |
42 | Louisiana’s Way Home | Kate DiCamillo | Goodreads |
43 | Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard | Pragmatic Mom | |
44 | Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya | Donna Jo Napoli and Kadir Nelson | The Barefoot Mommy |
45 | Mama Panya’s Pancakes | Mary and Rich Chamberlin and Julia Cairns | The Barefoot Mommy |
46 | Maniac Magee | Jerry Spinelli | Goodreads |
47 | Migrant | Maxine Trottier and Isabelle Arsenault | The Barefoot Mommy |
48 | Miles from Nowhere | Nami Mun | Goodreads |
49 | Mimi’s Village and How Basic Health Care Transformed It | Kate Smith Milway and Eugenie Fernandes | The Barefoot Mommy |
50 | Miss Pinkeltink’s Purse | Patty Brozo | Goodreads |
51 | No and Me | Delphine de Vigan | Goodreads |
52 | No Ordinary Day | Deborah Ellis | Goodreads |
53 | No Place | Todd Strasser | Goodreads |
54 | One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale | Demi | The Barefoot Mommy |
55 | One potato, Two Potato | Lets Lasso The Moon | |
56 | Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America | Jonathan Kozol | Goodreads |
57 | Refugee | Alan Gratz | Goodreads |
58 | Rickshaw Girl | Mitali Perkins and Jamie Hogan | The Barefoot Mommy |
59 | Roam | Pragmatic Mom | |
60 | Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together | Ron Hall | Goodreads |
61 | Saving Red | Sonya Sones | Goodreads |
62 | Seedfolks | Paul Fleischman | The Barefoot Mommy |
63 | Serafina’s Promise | Anne E. Burg | The Barefoot Mommy |
64 | Shingebiss | Scholastic | |
65 | Shoebox Sam | Pragmatic Mom | |
66 | Si, Se Puede! | Scholastic | |
67 | Sorta Like a Rock Star | Matthew Quick | Goodreads |
68 | Still a Family: A Story about Homelessness | Brenda Reeves Sturgis | Goodreads |
69 | Suttree | Cormac McCarthy | Goodreads |
70 | Tell Them Who I Am: The Lives of Homeless Women | Elliot Liebow | Goodreads |
71 | The Bridge Home | Padma Venkatraman | Goodreads |
72 | The Can Man | Pragmatic Mom | |
73 | The Double Bind | Chris Bohjalian | Goodreads |
74 | The Exact Location of Home | Kate Messner | Goodreads |
75 | The Glass Castle | Jeannette Walls | Goodreads |
76 | The Good Garden: How One Family Went from Hunger to Having Enough (CitizenKid) | Lets Lasso The Moon | |
77 | The Hard-Times Jar | Ethel Footman Smothers and John Holyfield | The Barefoot Mommy |
78 | The Invasion of Tork | Claire Davis | Goodreads |
79 | The Language of Flowers | Vanessa Diffenbaugh | Goodreads |
80 | The Lunch Thief | Pragmatic Mom | |
81 | The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City | Jennifer Toth | Goodreads |
82 | The Pecan Man | Cassie Dandridge Selleck | Goodreads |
83 | Towers Falling | Jewell Parker Rhodes | Goodreads |
84 | W is for Wasted | Sue Grafton | Goodreads |
85 | Wolf Hollow | Lauren Wolk | Goodreads |
86 | Yard Sale | Eve Bunting and Lauren Castillo | The Barefoot Mommy |
Source | Article |
Goodreads | Popular Homelessness Books |
Lets Lasso The Moon | Top 10 Books to Help Kids Understand Hunger |
Pragmatic Mom | Homelessness in Children’s Books |
Scholastic | Read-Alouds About Poverty and Class |
The Barefoot Mommy | 18 Children’s Books About Poverty and Hunger |
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