On Our Street, by Jillian Roberts and Jaime Casap, illustrated by Jane Heinrichs

One challenge of raising children is exposing them to unpleasant realities in the world and getting them to see beyond their own selfish concerns.  To that end, On Our Street: Our First Talk about Poverty, can help parents and educators answer questions about poverty that children will inevitably see in their communities, and expose them to issues that perhaps are outside of their experience.

Written by child psychologist Jillian Roberts and Google "chief education evangelist" Jaime Casap, On Our Street starts with a little girl asking her friend about the man she saw sleeping on sidewalk.  Her questions run the gamut of homelessness, poverty, children in poverty, refugees, and human rights.  They discuss reasons for homelessness and causes of poverty, access to health care and education, and ways other people can help.  They include helpful sidebars that offer definitions of terms and statistics about poverty.

While the presentation is basic, the content is solid and informative.  Most American kids never personally experience homelessness or the severe lack of basic needs, but many kids do or are close to other kids who do.  On Our Street is a nice way to introduce a hard topic to all kids.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!