Paper things by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Arianna and her brother, Gage, have been dealing with the trauma their late mother experienced. They are homeless and constantly moving from place to place. Ari feels ashamed and can't explain her situation to her friends. She holds onto pictures from catalogs to imagine a home. The story focuses on Ari's loyalty to her brother and guardian during their homelessness. The book is recommended for readers aged 10 to 16. For four years, ever since Arianna's mother died, Ari and her brother, Gage, have lived with the trauma their mother suffered from way back. Their mother wanted them to stay together, and that is what he is determined to do, even though he is not steady or has the need for permanent rest. A four-month stretch of homelessness in the middle of winter is no joke, and Ari is too ashamed to tell her friends and teachers why she can't apply to a checker school or why her clothes and hair are so dirty. She and Gage must shift their lodgings from a friend's apartment to sneaking into this local shelter for hours, from a girlfriend's walker to a storage unit. It gets worse before it gets better. Sometimes all Ari has to hold onto is a paper thing. Pictures of people and furniture she has cut out of catalogues. They use this to imagine a place for their room. Homelessness is hard to get a handle on for kids if their situation is as stable as it should be. Paper things offer a glimpse to the language. It is cleaned up and no one disciplines me on the street. It's really bad and seriously distressed. The story revolves. It's a bit too weepy. Confusion what has gone before the especially confusion of stubbornness of Jana and Gage. Still, we are glad it does revolve because she's a bright, generous girl who doesn't hold grudges. An appropriate guide for kids wondering what it's like to have no home. The bottom line of this story is that the protagonist of paper things struggles to be loyal to her brother and her guardian as she endures the seasons of homelessness. The level of reading is middle grade students to high schoolers and recommended from ages 10 to ages 16. Thank you.