Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

When I heard the title of this book, I thought it was going to be the story about the movie with the little girl and her father who teach geese how to fly south for the winter. I'm pretty glad it's not that, because I'm pretty sure that movie made me cry. But I was really surprised about what the story was actually about. It is told from the perspective of a young boy who is homeless. He has been living in the airport with his father for a while while they save up money for a place to live. The family knows other families in the same situation, traveling around different airline concourses in an attempt to remain unnoticed.

Again, I was confused about what is controversial about this story. I assume it is the homelessness. Is this a subject warranting silence from the school institution? There are undoubtedly students within the American school system who are homeless. Shouldn't this issue be addressed, then? I guess I just do not see how silence is helping the situation. I would hope schools could be open about issues their students are facing.

One thing that did bother me, though, about this book was the idea of invisibility. The boy and his father wanted nothing more than to be completely invisible within the airport. No one could know their names or that they were there. They had to be completely invisible in order to survive. This really made me uneasy. No one should have to go through life pretending they do not exist.

I have to admit, I am on the fence about this one - not about whether it should be allowed or not. I do not see a problem with it being in a school library. I just do not like it because of the invisibility factor. It upsets me to think that people live like that. Homelessness, though, is something that should be openly discussed in the school setting because it is an issue that resonates with a lot of kids.