By Eve Bunting
A boy and his father live in an airport, and a trapped bird shows him a way to hope.
Andrew and his dad live in the airport. They have no home, so they sleep sitting up, keep their bag packed, wear blue to blend into the crowd, and move from terminal to terminal so nobody notices they never actually leave. Andrew's dad works and saves and hunts for a place they can afford. And Andrew watches a little bird that got trapped inside, trying to find its way back out.
This is where the trail steps up. It's still a picture book you can read in one sitting, but it's the first one that lets your child sit inside homelessness from the inside, through the eyes of a boy their own age. Bunting doesn't dramatize a thing. She just shows the small daily work of staying invisible, and trusts the quiet to do the rest. The trapped bird gives a young child something to hold onto, so the hope stays real without being tidy.