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July Challenge Read a Book About Poverty or Homelessness
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FCPL is challenging you to read great books about new people, cool places and different experiences.
Read Your World is all about reading diverse books that encourage elementary and teen readers to explore and learn about the world around them. Complete any 5 out of the 6 challenges (or earn 50 points) to earn a prize! The books on this list are suggestions. Feel free to read a book that is not on this list. If you need help picking a title, ask a librarian to recommend a book for you. |
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Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse
by Marcy Campbell
Refusing to believe that a boy in her community who lives in a tiny house really has a beautiful horse of his own, a little girl becomes angry and complains about the boy before learning valuable lessons in empathy and imagination.
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A Chair For My Mother
by Vera B. Williams
A child, her waitress mother, and her grandmother save dimes to buy a comfortable armchair after all their furniture is lost in a fire.
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Fly Away Home
by Eve Bunting
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.
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Home in the Woods
by Eliza Wheeler
The best-selling creator of Miss Maple’s Seeds presents a story based on the childhood of her grandmother that follows the inspiring experiences of a 6-year-old girl whose family starts over in a Wisconsin tar-paper shack in the aftermath of a parent’s death.
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Last Stop on Market Street
by Matt de la Peña
A young boy rides the bus across town with his grandmother and learns to appreciate the beauty in everyday things.
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Maddi's Fridge
by Lois Brandt
After a day at the park, Sofia discovers that her best friend Maddi has no food in her refrigerator and decides to try to help, eventually enlisting her mother.
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Poverty and Hunger
by Louise Spilsbury
An introduction to poverty and hunger answers such questions as what hunger and poverty are, how people around the world are affected by both, and how readers can help them.
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Those Shoes
by Maribeth Boelts
Jeremy, who longs to have the black high tops that everyone at school seems to have but his grandmother cannot afford, is excited when he sees them for sale in a thrift shop and decides to buy them even though they are too small.
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What Is Given From the Heart
by Pat McKissack
A final picture book by the three-time Coretta Scott King Award-winner follows the story of a little boy from a disadvantaged home where he and his mother count their blessings while helping their church collect donations for a family that has lost everything in a fire.
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Yard Sale
by Eve Bunting
Selling most of her personal possessions when her family is forced to move from their house into a small apartment, Callie struggles while watching other people buy her things before coming to realize what truly makes a home.
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Crenshaw
by Katherine Applegate
A story about a homeless boy and his imaginary friend that proves in unexpected ways that friends matter, whether real or imaginary.
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How to Steal a Dog
by Barbara O'Connor
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.
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An Invisible Thread : A Young Reader's Edition
by Laura Schroff
A young-readers adaptation of the best-selling memoir documents the remarkable friendship between a busy sales executive and an 11-year-old homeless boy, tracing how their unexpected bond transformed both of their lives for the better.
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My Jasper June
by Laurel Snyder
Two girls who feel alone and lost bond over their shared emotions during the summer but find their friendship tested when the realities of their home lives intrude once more.
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Just Under the Clouds
by Melissa Sarno
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.
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Rich
by Nikki Grimes
Free is excited about a local poetry contest because of its cash prize, but when he and Dyamonde befriend a classmate who is homeless and living in a shelter, they rethink what it means to be rich or poor.
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Stay
by Bobbie Pyron
Shares the story of Piper, a girl who just moved into a homeless shelter in a new city, and Baby, a dog who lives in the park with his person, but when Baby loses his person it is up to Piper to make sure Baby is not taken away for good.
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Tinfoil Sky
by Cyndi Sand-eveland
Longing for security when her mother announces that they are leaving the home of an abusive man, Mel is disappointed when the grandmother she dreamed about is not what she expected, a situation that compels her to take refuge in the local library and work to rise above her difficult circumstances.
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Vanderbeekers Lost and Found
by Karina Yan Glaser
Helping a neighbor train for a marathon and watching over a local homeless man as autumn arrives on 141st Street, the Vanderbeekers uncover the visitor’s identity while managing the realities of caring for someone in an impossible situation.
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The Benefits of Being an Octopus
by Ann Braden
Seventh-grader Zoey Albro focuses on caring for three younger siblings and avoiding rich classmates at school until her fascination with octopuses gets her on the debate team and she begins to speak out.
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Black Girl Unlimited : the remarkable story of a teenage wizard
by Echo Brown
A largely autobiographical story infused with magical realism follows the transcendent coming-of-age of a teen from the East Side who transitions from the world of her home to that of a privileged West Side school while navigating an ominous veil of depression.
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Free Lunch
by Rex Ogle
A sixth grader from an economically disadvantaged family struggles in a new school where he is forced to endure humiliation over his secondhand clothing and public daily requests for his school’s free lunch program.
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The Great Jeff
by Tony Abbott
A companion to Firegirl finds difficult family setbacks prompting Jeff Hicks' transfer from his beloved private school to a hated public school, a situation that is further complicated by an estrangement from his former best friend.
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Lizzie Flying Solo
by Nanci Turner Steveson
Hoping to get through school unnoticed while enduring life in a transitional housing shelter after her father is arrested for a white-collar crime, Lizzie St. Clair bonds with a frightened pony at a local stable while struggling to accept help from new friends.
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No Fixed Address
by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund
Twelve-year-old Felix's appearance on a television game show reveals that he and his mother have been homeless for a while, but also restores some of his faith in other people.
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Paper Things
by Jennifer Jacobson
Leaving with her brother when he decides he can no longer stay with their guardian, Ari endures a life of homelessness that challenges her schoolwork, friendships, and the promise made to her mother that she and her brother would stay together
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Parked
by Danielle Svetcov
Newly homeless Jeanne Ann and wealthy Cal form a vital friendship as they both search for stability and community, finding it through love of books, art, and food.
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Sorta Like a Rockstar
by Matthew Quick
Living in a yellow school bus driven by her mother, optimistic homeless teen Amber focuses on improving the lives of a motley circle of friends, including a nihilistic senior, a haiku-writing war vet and a priest, before a personal tragedy compromises her outlook and prospects.
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Where I Live
by Brenda Rufener
Linden Rose is homeless, secretly living in the halls of her small-town high school. Her position as school blog editor, her best friends, Ham and Seung, and the promise of a future far away are what keep Linden under the radar and moving forward. When cool-girl Bea comes to school with a bloody lip, Linden begins looking at Bea's life. Soon her investigation prompts people to pay more attention, which is the last thing she needs. But stopping the violence for Bea will mean coming to terms with her own painful past-- and jeopardizing the secrets she's worked so hard to keep.
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Get Reading Recommendations Forsyth County Public Library | #WeKnowBooks
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