*A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser

A Duet for Home portrays the plight of the homeless as far from hopeless—or helpless.

*A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser. Clarion Books, 2022, 343 pages.

Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: ages 8-14

No place like . . . Huey House?

Juniperi (June) Yang expected her new home in the Bronx to be some kind of subsidized apartment. The address the EAU (Emergency Assistance Unit) gave them led to Huey House, a sad-looking building miles away from her Chinatown neighborhood. At Huey House, June, her little sister Maybelle, and their mother will share a single room, a communal cafeteria, and too many rules. In other words, it’s a homeless shelter. After her dad’s death in a bicycle accident and her mother’s descent into depression, could their luck get any worse?

Yes, it could: June’s first encounter with the residents leaves her covered in cranberry juice, compliments of the shelter’s resident pranksters. Tyrell and Jeremiah meant the cranberry juice for someone else, but that makes no difference to June, at least at first. The boys aren’t mean, just bored, after almost three years’ residence at Huey House with little resolution. Will June and her family be stuck here for that long? Her dislocation consumes her outlook, but gradually she will discover hidden graces, unexpected friendships, and a reason to bring her beloved viola out of retirement to make some music.

First-hand experience

Karina Yan Glaser, best known for her delightful Vanderbeeker series, goes to darker places with this stand-alone novel. In her Author Note at the beginning, she recalls her experience as a young college graduate working in the New York City shelter system, serving hundreds of uprooted families. A Duet for Home reflects that experience–with the mechanical bureaucracy that runs the system as well as the generous and bighearted foot-soldiers who make it work. The obstacles inherent in the system and the individual problems of homeless families can seem insurmountable, but humor, persistence, and the joy of music open doors of possibility. Not every problem is solved at the end, but hope lives on. This is an encouraging and illuminating read for middle-schoolers on up.

Overall Rating: 5 (out of 5)

• Worldview/moral value: 4.75
• Artistic/literary value: 5

Read more about our ratings here.                 

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: Other middle-grade novels tackling the subject of homelessness: Stay, Paper Things, and Stand Fast.
• Reviews: The Vanderbeeker series! Start here with the introductory volume, and follow the links!
• Resource: Get even more mileage out of The Vanderbeeker’s with Betsy’s Love Your Neighbor Book Club edition.
• Resource: See our Back-Porch interview with Karina Yan Glaser!

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