A stark difference from the stereotypes often given to this population. In 2017 it was reported that 35% of the homeless population in Vancouver never used drugs or abused alcohol. It's the perfect setting for this story and Nielsen uses areas of Vancouver that are familiar and accurately depicts the city and it's residents. Between it's warm weather, it's close proximity to the USA border, and housing prices that are out of reach for households that make $100,000 a year Vancouver is a very difficult place to have a warm, safe place to sleep in. We still have homelessness here and it's no more acute than in Vancouver (where both my siblings happen to live). Just being a first world, relatively nice and supportive member of the world does not make us better or without our struggles. However, Nielsen has reminded me in No Fixed Address that Canada has many flaws that need to be worked on. And I was pleased to see that Nielsen is Canadian. I try to read at least 15% Canadian authors in any given year.

Especially in my own home country of Canada. I had tears thinking about any child being homeless at any given moment. The difference here is that I wasn't crying by the end because of the story per say. I'm not a crier, and I tend to dislike books that are written to intentionally make readers cry (John Green and I are not friends). Set in Vancouver, the homeless capital of Canada due to it's temperate weather, No Fixed Address is a moving and tear jerking story. Susin Nielsen has brought a hard topic, children who are homeless, to the forefront.

There are difficult topics and there are ones where socially we like to pretend they don't exist. She is delighted to have finally figure out how to 'claim' her author profile on Goodreads! She lives in Vancouver with her family and two naughty cats. Susin’s new novel, We Are All Made of Molecules, will be published in Canada, the US and the UK in Spring of 2015. Her books have been translated into multiple languages. Author Wally Lamb named it his top YA pick for 2012 in his “First Annual Wally Awards,” and recently Rolling Stone magazine put it at #27 in their list of “Top 40 Best YA Novels.” It went on to win the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Award, the Canadian Library Association’s Children’s Book of the Year Award, and a number of Young Readers’ Choice Awards. Her third novel, The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. It won multiple Young Readers’ Choice Awards, as did her second novel, Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom. Her first young adult novel, Word Nerd, was published in 2008 to critical acclaim. Since then, Nielsen has written for over 20 Canadian TV series. Nielsen went on to pen sixteen episodes of the hit TV show. They hated her food, but they saw a spark in her writing. Susin got her start feeding cast and crew on the popular television series, Degrassi Junior High.

No Fixed Address by Susin Nielsen