A Place Called Home is a “good news” story written to introduce the reader to the concept of families who are homeless.
Allyson’s dad lost his job when the company moved its factory to Mexico. Mom works for minimum wage at a coffee shop. There was no longer enough money to pay rent, electricity and food bills.
Alllyson and her family were forced to move. Now they’re in town at the local homeless shelter, A Place Called Home. The move meant that Allyson and her little brother had to change schools.
The story follows only a few days in Allyson’s life, yet it covers many of the problems faced by families who are homeless. This lovely story will touch your heart.
Jill Quinn Babcock’s beautiful illustrations present Allyson as a real life child who could be sitting next to you at school.
A Place Called Home
Janet's Notes
Writing A Place Called Home was a special blessing for me. Our Lindsay homeless shelter asked me to write a “Good News” story about a child who was homeless. I was thrilled to be asked. After much prayer, and learning about the shelter and its programs, the story began to flow onto the page. I loved young Allyson from the beginning.
Once completed and approved by the shelter’s board, we searched for an artist whose specialty was creating real people, not cartoons. This story speaks to a real-life issue and needed real-life people to tell it. Painting real people with feelings was a specialized talent.
“I’ll check the internet,” I suggested. As I surfed through the websites of professional illustrators I prayed for God’s help. Eventually, I found Jill Quinn Babcock’s amazing gallery of drawings. She had worked with many well-known children’s authors. Would this successful Nova Scotia artist be willing to join our project and share her talents free because of course we had no money to fund our book project?
I sent her an email telling her about our project and our lack of money. Jill answered, “My sister lives in Peterborough and works in Lindsay. I care about the homelessness issue. Send me your story. If I like it, I’ll do it.”
When I sent her my story she liked it. “Yes, I’ll do it,” she emailed back. God had given us a miracle. We had our illustrator. Her paintings for the story are exquisite.
When it came time to lay out the book for a printer, we knew once again that God was a part of this project. The local graphic artist who had done the layout for my previous two books said yes immediately. Again, there was no cost.
All we needed was money for printing. The director found one donor for half the amount and two of my friends gave the rest. Publishing A Place Called Home at no cost means we are able to give all the proceeds from sales to the shelter for programs for the homeless. To date we have raised nearly $10,000.
Because A Place Called Home is also intended for use in schools we have included in the book, a teacher’s guide and suggestions for a handout.