Eleven-year-old Ari and her older brother, Gage, have lived with their legal guardian, Janna, since their mother’s death five years before. Gage, now 19, isn’t getting along with Janna and decides that he and Ari should move out. He lies and says he has an apartment. Instead, he and Ari are homeless. They move from one of Gage’s friends to another, occasionally spending a night at a shelter. Ari, who doesn’t want to be disloyal to her brother, tells no one what’s happening. Although a few details are a bit too easy regarding Janna letting Ari go, the story reveals harsh realities of being homeless as well as the kindnesses that help them barely get by. Ari, who has always prided herself on being a good student, is struggling to keep up at school, and battling a growing sense of insecurity. Gage is truly trying to pull their lives together, but it’s not easy getting a job let alone an apartment without a current address. A subplot regarding the loss of beloved traditions at Ari’s elementary school because of a new, results-obsessed principle is a bit pointed yet shows how important rituals and traditions are for kids, and that, for some kids, school represents stability and constancy. And it’s in the small details and emotions surrounding the search for stability and constancy that this novel shines. (Ages 9–12)

When forced to choose between staying with her guardian and being with her big brother, Ari chose her big brother. There’s just one problem—Gage doesn’t actually have a place to live.

When Ari’s mother died four years ago, she had two final wishes: that Ari and her older brother, Gage, would stay together always, and that Ari would go to Carter, the middle school for gifted students. So when nineteen-year-old Gage decides he can no longer live with their bossy guardian, Janna, Ari knows she has to go with him. But it’s been two months, and Gage still hasn’t found them an apartment. He and Ari have been “couch surfing,” staying with Gage’s friend in a tiny apartment, crashing with Gage’s girlfriend and two roommates, and if necessary, sneaking into a juvenile shelter to escape the cold Maine nights. But all of this jumping around makes it hard for Ari to keep up with her schoolwork, never mind her friendships, and getting into Carter starts to seem impossible. Will Ari be forced to break one of her promises to Mama? Told in an open, authentic voice, this nuanced story of hiding in plain sight may have readers thinking about homelessness in a whole new way.