Read these books alone or with your book club! Not a member of a book club? Invite your friends or co-workers to form one then read and discuss together!
CRAFTIVISM
HOMELESSNESS (and related issues)
The Glass Castle
Jeannette Wall's "tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms."When They Call You A Terrorist
Black Lives Matter Co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors and asha bandele's “remarkable book reveals what inspired Patrisse’s visionary and courageous activism and forces us to face the consequence of the choices our nation made when we criminalized a generation.”The New Jim Crow
Michelle Alexander's ‘much needed conversation’ about the wide-ranging social costs and divisive racial impact of the U.S. criminal justice policies.Tattoos On The Heart
From the founder of Homeboy Industries, a gang-intervention program in L.A. This book about the impact of poverty on children, universal kinship and redemption offers moving examples of the power of unconditional love and the importance of fighting despair. Deeply touching, funny, and uplifting, this book reminds us that no life is less valuable than another.Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome - While African Americans managed to emerge from chattel slavery and the oppressive decades that followed with great strength and resiliency, they did not emerge unscathed. Slavery produced centuries of physical, psychological and spiritual injury. Joy DeGruy's brilliant book lays the groundwork for understanding how the past has influenced the present, and opens up the discussion of how we can use the strengths we have gained to heal.
- Soul of a Woman
This tale, told through the eyes of a child, traces the journey of an American woman, dispossessed and struggling for survival through decades of poverty and homelessness. (A percentage of sales is given by the author to NCH)
- Why Are You Surprised I'm Still Here?
Featuring the Sign Collection of Billy Kaufman, this is an exploration of American homelessness through words and images. (A percentage of sales is given by the publisher to NCH)
- Street Corner Majesty
Poems by David Harris, NCH Speaker
- A Bum Deal: An Unlikely Journey from Hopeless to Humanitarian
by Rufus Hannah, NCH Speaker and Barry Soper
- Shelter: One Man's Journey from Homelessness to Hope
by Bobby Burns
- Homeless Isn't Hopeless
by William Laney
- Drawing Strength
For kids:
A Shelter In Our Car Zettie and her Mama left their warm and comfortable home in Jamaica for an uncertain life in the United Sates. With Papa gone, Mama can't find a steady job that will sustain them and so they are forced to live in their car. But Mama's unwavering love, support, and gutsy determination give Zettie the confidence that, together, she and her mother can meet all challenges. Monica Gunning's moving and authentic story about homelessness in an American city was developed with the help of the Homeless Children's Network in San Francisco.
Reading list for kids of all ages on fighting hunger, homelessness, and youth activism.
Doing Good Together's reading list for children.