A Shelter in Our Car

Title: A Shelter in Our Car

Author: Monica Gunning

Illustrator: Elaine Pedlar

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Medium: Chalk Pastel

Awards: Honorable Mention in the 2004 Myers Outstanding Book Awards and 2005 Skipping Stones Honor Award

Theme: Homelessness, and the mother love for her daughter. Overcoming obstacles.

Summary: Zettie is a little girl who moved to America from Jamaica with her mom. Her dad passed away so her mom has to support herself and Zettie. Her mama didn’t always hold a steady job. They live in their car.

Literacy Elements:

Setting: The book includes different locations such as Zettie’s school, the park they stayed at overnight with their car parked in parking lot, the hotel they stayed overnight when they got lucky, and their car.

Style: It is written by first point of view. The girl is narrator in the story. It was written man vs. society. Zettie had hard time struggling fitting in. She got bullied and she struggled for the days she could have real bed and variety of food. Zettie and her mom struggled to co-exist with society when policeman told them that they have to park their car somewhere else. Author made us to relate and got frustrated along with Zettie and her mother. The author’s tone shows homelessness is serious issues.

Plot: Progressive and the book have great suspense; we don’t know what will happen. The book have great climax because it got super scary at the highest point and better and better downhill. We can be connected with Zettie and her emotions when she went through something like bullying. This story show how serious homelessness can be problem for society.

Characterization: The main character (Protagonist) is the narrator. Zettie is an immigrant from Jamaica. She already had sense of loss from her father’s death. She had great life in Jamaica. Her mom moved to America for better life. She struggled to see why they had to live in their car. She was teased and she was upset about certain situations. It shows her emotions wonderfully especially when she was embarrassed to be dropped off at school in their car. It makes us to relate with her and issue of homelessness more.

Evaluation: It is wonderful book to raise society awareness of the social problem we have in America. There are millions of homeless people across America. There is higher percentage of chances of young children being homeless. This book portrayed harsh reality of Zettie’s struggles and how limited her choices were when it comes to where she has to sleep and what food she can eat that night. If her mom had plenty of money, she had more choice, if her mom didn’t make enough money that day. She has to live off peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This book has beautiful artistry, it showed the family’s emotions through the colors and it shows the intensity of the situation. It makes us more emotionally connected with Zettie through the words and us seeing the emotion in the pictures in story makes us more connected. It also portrayed how strong the mother’s love for her child. Many children can relate to the love their parents have for the child. Even through difficult times, the love is only shelter Zettie really needed.