NO PLACE LIKE HOME by James Bird

NO PLACE LIKE HOME is a brand-new release by James Bird the author of THE BRAVE. This middle grade novel lets readers travel with Opin and his mother and brother as they look for a place to call home.

Opin is homeless. Living out of a small red, Pinto is not something he wants, but he tries to make the best of it. Sometimes they get to stay in a shelter where there are bunk beds and usually some kind of questionable soup. Unfortunately, those places can be smelly and are often filled with less than desirable characters. 

Making money to keep the car filled with gas so they can continue their journey to LosAngeles means dancing with his mother on the street for handouts, selling his artwork to generous passers-by, or sleeping alone in the car while his mother "works." Opin wishes his older brother would be nicer to him and quit running off and worrying their mother, but he knows that dealing with being homeless and poor brings out the anger in his brother.

Even at Opin's young age he has learned a lot about the world, like "which religious groups are the most accommodating for a family living in a car to spend a night or two in their holy parking lots? Easy peasy. Buddhists are the best. They'll even offer you food sometimes.... The worst would be Christian churches. They call the cops and get your car towed away."

Opin wants nothing more than to find a home and maybe a friend. He doesn't remember much about his father; only that his mother says she left him so Opin and his brother would be safe. She has taught him to read and insists that he learns as much as he can. She also makes sure he understands his Native American ancestry and even some of the language of the Ojibwe.

Author James Bird's life inspired Opin's story. In an author's note at the end of the book, Bird relates the similarities and shares his appreciation for all who helped him on the path to where he is today.