It\u2019s a frigid day in Cherry Hill Forest; powdery drifts blanket the ground, migrating geese honk overhead, and Emma and her mom, a social worker, stroll along a secluded trail. Emma stumbles upon a camping tent much like those she\u2019s seen in other parks. A woman emerges, and the trio exchange niceties before Emma asks her visibly chilled neighbor, \u201cDon\u2019t you get cold?\u201d Margaret\u2019s affirmative answer prompts mother and daughter to act, but when Mom\u2019s outreach efforts to neighborhood shelters yield few solutions, Emma takes matters into her own hands. Emptying her coin bank, she assembles a kit of essentials and, later, prepares a plate of Christmas dinner for Margaret, learning over a shared meal more about the experiences that have discouraged the woman from seeking placement in a shelter. Emma and her mother listen attentively, attuned to their own privilege; by the time winter arrives again, the pair have identified a potential new home for their friend, a gesture borne from informed empathy. Necessarily narrow in scope, this text offers a jumping-off point for further dialogue. Canadian journalist Davy offers a frank, age-appropriate introduction to housing insecurity, broaching complex systemic realities with digestible tenderness. Delaporte\u2019s appealing art, too, softens the challenging content without minimizing its impact. An author\u2019s note provides additional actionable context for the true story on which the book is based. Mom and Margaret are light-skinned; Emma is tan-skinned. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s a frigid day in Cherry Hill Forest; powdery drifts blanket the ground, migrating geese honk overhead, and Emma and her mom, a social worker, stroll along a secluded trail. Emma stumbles upon a camping tent much like those she\u2019s seen in other parks. A woman emerges, and the trio exchange niceties before Emma asks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":4395,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}