NO FIXED ADDRESS

NO FIXED ADDRESS by Susin Nielsen

This is one I won't be continuing. First off, I have read only 38 pages of this book. I will comment more on that at the end. The idea of No Fixed Address by Susan Nielsen is a great one. An almost 13-year-old boy, Felix, and his mom, Astrid, are homeless and living in a van. It's a sad descent that happens from living in their home to ending up in a van on the street. However, Felix has grown up watching a trivia type game show on TV. He has a chance to be on it. If he wins, the prize money would change their lives. So why am I quitting this one?

Here's my list

-In one of their step down apartments, a few times a week Astrid fixes Felix supper, then goes downstairs to the manager's apartment for a couple hours. Felix remarks, "I guess he was her sort-of boyfriend, even if he never took her out on a proper date."

-Then we have a guy move in for a while. No inappropriate scenes are shared.

-Astrid is obviously a habitual liar. There are 4 pages dedicated to her different levels of lying. It is clear that they are all okay in her mind and often needed. The story does tell how several of those occasions have come back to bite her in the rear, but it is still understood that it is acceptable.

-Astrid and Felix are at the mercy of a secretary, who is a man, to get Felix into a certain school. Astrid makes up a huge story and then asks the man if he has children. The man replies that he and his husband are trying to adopt.

This is a middle grade reader, but it feels like it's stretching to reach the YA a little. It is true that our children walk side by side with all kinds of kids in multiple types of situations. I love to use books to walk through difficult topics that my kids will encounter or do encounter in real life, but I sometimes start to feel like we're throwing every possible situation at them to navigate to make a story. There are times and maturity needed to navigate difficult situations.

Like I said, I've only read 38 pages. So it is very possible that the book will right itself. It just has deeper issues than I want to navigate with the lower end of the age recommendation.