PAPER THINGS

🇬🇧 Description:

When forced to choose between staying with her guardian and being with her big brother, Ari chose her big brother. There's just one problem -- Gage didn't actually have a place to live. How can Ari keep up with school, her best friend, and middle-school applications when she's "couch surfing" -- a night here with Gage's friend in a tiny apartment, a night there with Gage's girlfriend and her two roommates -- and even, when necessary, sneaking into a juvenile shelter? 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.

Reviews:

Through Ari's resiliency, Jacobson introduces readers to the precarious and frightening life of a homeless elementary-school student who holds fast to her dreams and the only family she knows. It is her mature sense of her own needs that informs the adults who love her and helps them to understand how they might build a future together.
—Booklist

Paper Things treats honesty, compassion and generosity as things we can never have too much of in life. Here's hoping it inspires more of the same in its readers.
—BookPage

Jacobson's realistic fiction novel provides a rich context for dialogue about recognizing the signs of homelessness and providing resources to students and families.
—Literacy Daily