Customer Reviews

A Kids' Guide to Hunger & Homelessness: How to Take Action! (How to Take Action! Series)

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I work for a non-profit organization and often teach classes and make presentations about poverty, hunger and homelessness. I am always looking for new activities and tools to help teach especially kids and teens about these important issues and this book has been a tremendous help. It has practical suggestions for getting involved in your community and makes you feel like you can make a difference in the world whether you are 50 years old or 10 years old. Its message is inspiring and empowering. We need more resource tools like this one.

Hunger is a complicated issue. The relationships between biofuel manufacturing and global corn prices, meat production versus eating the grains that are fed to livestock, and the distribution of existing food supplies all affect hunger, in addition to the issues of drought, war, natural disasters, and unemployment. And homelessness isn't the result of alcohol and drug abuse; 1 in 50 children in the US are homeless (1.5 million each year; Campaign to End Child Homelessness). Worldwide, billions of people go to bed hungry or are homeless (or both).

This workbook (and that's what this is, a workbook to be used) addresses hunger and homelessness with a service-learning (S-L) model, focusing on "grades 6 and up." In some ways, even though this Free Spirit Publishing series is on Service-Learning For Kids, that "up" goes a long way. College students use hunger banquets to educate others about hunger. What groups are not involved in food collections for community pantries? And if homelessness seems like a difficult topic for a 6th grader to handle, well, its hard for a 40 year old as well.

Author Cathryn Berger Kaye is a S-L expert (The Complete Guide to Service Learning: Proven, Practical Ways to Engage Students in Civic Responsibility, Academic Curriculum, & Social Action). She applies the principles and practice of S-L to hunger and homelessness. Throughout this workbook are opportunities for reflection, analysis, research, and action. The workbook discusses how. Kaye writes, "In this book you will find the phrases 'people experiencing homelessness' or 'people who are homeless' instead of 'homeless people.' This word choice is intentional. It helps us remember the humanity of people first, before describing their circumstance" (p. 10). See what I mean about encouraging students to think?

Highly recommended, affordably priced, and ready to be used, this workbook starts in the hands of teachers, parents, and youth group leaders. It goes from there into the hands of students.

Make a difference in the world. Take action, Kaye proclaims. Engage.

This book written on a child's level has terrific ideas for a child alone or with his family or with his class can do meaningful activities for his neighborhood, community or city make a definite difference for the homeless.