Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours for the tour opportunity, this is an honest review, reflecting my opinions.

Maya is a bright and thoughtful 5th-grader with a secret. Her family has been living in a homeless shelter for the past month, since her father was hospitalized with serious injuries after being hit by a car. Told over the course of a day, Shelter follows Maya as she interacts with her family and attends school, where she contends with bullies, hunger, and being inadequately dressed for the rainy weather.

I loved this book. Ultimately hopeful, Matheson deftly handles challenging issues including homelessness, food insecurity, classism, bullying, and the affordable housing crisis in cities like San Francisco. Matheson works to reduce the stigma related to homelessness by creating a narrative that demonstrates how easily it is for a family to become unhoused though a simple series of events outside of their control.

Maya’s internal monologue demonstrates the impact of her housing situation and food insecurity on her ability to learn and fully engage in her education, and talks through her internal process accessing coping skills to manage interpersonal conflicts, seeking help, and an unexpected test. Maya’s a pretty well regulated kid with secure attachments, and is still struggling, which underlines the concept that not all struggles kids experience in school are outwardly expressed. Shelter would likely be appropriate for bibliotherapy and SEL curricula focused on building empathy with supports considered for readers who relate to this book’s content.

This book is probably best suited to emotionally mature, but younger middle grade readers. In the book, Maya speaks fondly of the Ramona books, and Sheltered will likely appeal to the same readers.

Representation here includes: an unhoused family, working/middle class characters in an affluent community, side character with severe food allergies, side character with cerebral palsy, racially diverse side characters, an LGBTQ+ side character. CW in comments.

Thank you to @tbrbeyondtours and @christiematheson for including me on the book tour for this book.

Shelter is a middle grade contemporary novels that follows Maya’s story as she navigate homelessness after a life threatening injury her dad experiences and her home being sold by their landlord turns her world upside down. And to top it off, she has to keep her homelessness a secret for fear of being bullied for it. But this doesn’t stop Maya from hoping that things will get better. Shelter was a quick read that adds a different perspective to how most view homelessness and influences people to ponder more about the negative stereotypes society may put upon homeless people.

After the accident that has left her dad in a coma [medically induced], Maya’s mom now struggles to navigate being a single mom of two. Gabby, Maya’s younger sisters has many allergies and illnesses which makes it harder for Maya’s mom to keep a steady job and care for her daughter. Keeping the secret that you are homeless can be hard for a 5th grader but we view in Maya’s journey her ability to create a façade for her peers. I overall enjoyed the support of Maya’s teachers throughout the story. I also appreciated Maya’s story also having a strong friendship component; it allowed me as a reader to not focus too much on the theme and see Maya for more than just a young girl going through many situations. I also enjoyed Maya’s character. She felt very mature for her young age and it was mostly given her circumstances. But what I enjoyed most about Maya was her hopefulness – she was able to find some good among a very unpredictable journey. She is also generous – she is willing to give her last bit of food to a homeless boy. It rings true to her altruistic spirit.


It was a pretty good read. It was under 200 pages and told the story in the way that it could. I wasn’t fully invested and I tihnk it was mostly because I was not the target reader for this. Nonetheless, I do recommend this book to anyone who has a middle grade reader in their life. It is a sweet story about perseverance, hope and navigating a tough struggle with optimism. You don’t often read about homelessness through the eyes of a child which is just as important. It makes you think a bit differently and for good reason.

First off I would again like to thank TBR & Beyond Blog Tours for arranging an amazing tour for an amazing book and to the publishers for sending me a Netgalley Arc.


This book is so important I can't put into words how I felt and am feeling still to this day and mainly why I am just reviewing the book now. Christie has written about an important topic of homelessness which is a world wide problem in such a stunning and moving way your heart breaks. I am in the UK there are loads of new housing being built but is way too expensive for a person to actually move and they are being bought people from outside and landlords even renting is expensive too.


Maya was a fantastic main character as she went through her day from leaving the shelter to travelling to school which for a young girl must of been hard and then go through the school day we get to see and hear what happens to her. This style of writing was amazing I felt that I was Maya even though I am and adult. I felt her pain being unable to tell her best friend Abby why she could not have a sleepover and Maya having all her important possessions in her rucksack. For me the rucksack was everything Maya cherished she knew she was loved and we also find out the story behind how Maya and her family came to live at the Shelter and it is heart breaking. What is also scary the book shows the reader that this could happen to anyone at any time. The book also shows us that having everything you want does not make a person happy and Christie shows that through Sloan who is not a very nice person who makes people feel worthless.

I am so glad I read this book and it actually made me think and question a lot of things and would be the perfect book to bring up such important topics as homelessness.

Again Shelter made me cry a lot and made me realise just how important it is to cherish what you already have. There was no doubt in mind at all that Shelter deserves 5 whopping stars.

3.5

Shelter is a story about a girl Maya, who's family has lost their home, and after a tragic accident, are unable to move into a new one, and instead have to rely on a homeless shelter for refuge. The story takes place over one day as Maya discovers what it means to be homeless, how important family and friends are, and even more. It's a short but sweet story perfect for younger readers.

I mention this because I had a hard time getting into it at first purely because the writing style is so young. The sentence structure, especially in the beginning seemed very choppy to me, and everything was so over-explained. However, if a much younger reader were reading this, it would probably be helpful to them. For me, it made it just a little difficult to engage with the story at first. Which, because it was so short, was unfortunate, because just as I was really getting into it, the book was over. Even so, I don't think it needed to be longer. It did what it needed to do within 178 pages, and it said what it needed to say. I think I just wasn't the targeted age range for this, and that's fine.

Still, I did enjoy it. I thought it was interesting reading about homelessness through the eyes of a child. Usually when you think of homeless people, you think of adults and elders on the streets, but there are actually *so* many homeless children, and this book brings that to light, which I definitely appreciated.

Maya is still hopeful about her situation without it being too unrealistic. She has moments of bitterness when her classmates flaunt how many clothes they have, and all of their trendy bags, or when they talk about their huge houses. This was completely realistic, though, because of course it would seem completely unfair to her that they have all of these things and don't appreciate it when everything she has comes from one backpack. Because it isn't fair. I admired Maya's ability to stay positive, such as when she mentions how she'd rather stay homeless and have a family that loves and appreciates her, than live in a huge house with all the stuff in the world but a family who doesn't care about her. It shows how much we take for granted in our daily lives.

I appreciate what this book set out to do, and I think it definitely hit the mark. While it didn't always click with me, I still appreciated it, and in the end, I enjoyed my time with Shelter and am glad I read it.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Shelter

Author: Christie Matheson

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 4.5/5

Diversity: Food allergies side character, Cerebral palsey death mute side character mentioned, Yemen side character mentioned, Gender neutral side character

Recommended For...: middle grade books, contemporary, homelessness

Publication Date: October 12, 2021

Genre: MG Contemporary

Recommended Age: 10+ (Shelter, Homelessness, Father in hospital, Bullying, Microaggressions, Food insecurity)

Explanation of CWs: Maya lives in a shelter and some of the book deals with education of shelters and showing what they look like. Maya also deals with homelessness and food insecurity, which are brought up often in the book. Maya’s father is in the hospital due to a hit and run accident. There is bullying shown throughout the book. There are some microaggressions shown and mentioned.

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Pages: 192

Synopsis: Fifth grade can be tough for anyone. There are cliques and mean kids and homework and surprise math tests. But after tragedy strikes her family, almost-eleven-year-old Maya has a painful secret that makes many days feel nearly impossible.

And today might be Maya's toughest yet. Her family is on edge, she needs to travel alone across the city, a bully is out to get her, and Maya has to face this winter's biggest rainstorm without a coat or an umbrella.

But even on the rainiest days, there's hope that the sun will come out soon.

Emotional and compassionate, Shelter looks at homelessness through one girl's eyes and explores the power of empathy, friendship, and love.

Review: I absolutely fell in love with this book so much that I finished it in a one hour reading session. The book takes course during one day in the life of Maya, who has to face homelessness, food insecurity, bullying, and the rain. I loved how the book had notes on homelessness, shelters, and poverty in the front of the book to help educate readers on the very serious issue. I also loved all of the diversity in the book and I loved the commentary on how hungry kids can’t perform as well as fed kids in the book, because that’s a point that a lot of people seem to miss about food insecurity. The character development was well done and the world building was fairly good. I also liked the plot and it kept me hooked throughout the book.

The only issue I really had with the book is that the book paints the bully to be just jealous of Maya. While that might be true, that really downplays a lot of the harm she did to multiple people, including insinuating that a character’s mother would miscarry another child. I do feel that most young bullies have unresolved issues that they perpetuate onto others and use that to bully them for it, but it really downplays the harm that it causes children when you’re told “oh they’re just jealous of you” because, as someone who was told that multiple times before about bullies, it makes the victims feel like they should be more compassionate to the bully when the bully needs to have therapy and come to the conclusion themselves about their issues,

Verdict: It was good!

One of the most pressing national crises of our time is homelessness and child poverty. It is a social issue that needs more awareness not only from a political standpoint, but also a humanistic one, empathy. From this lens young readers can glimpse into a day-in-the -life of someone who faces homelessness and understand what that looks and feels like.

It can begin the meaningful conversations parents and teachers can have with their children and students about what it means to be without a home.

For me, Shelter is a quick read, raising awareness around homelessness. Even though Matheson’s debut is one of import, as a reader, we cannot glance over the actually writing of the novel and seeing if we are fully invested in the story and its characters.

This is not to say I don’t think what is written isn’t important.

On the contrary, I think we need more books that help young people understand poverty and homelessness. But, again, it’s the execution of the writing that made this book difficult to read. How the author leaned too heavily on over explaining things and telling the reader what was going on rather than a fluid story of a child desperate for something more certain, more permanent.

Interestingly, the author chose to have the time of when things happened throughout the day. Like a time stamp, Matheson listed from the beginning of the book to the end the time of Maya’s day. I wondered why the author chose to chronically order Maya’s day into hour-by-hour timed increments and why it was necessary along with how it added to the story? Perhaps it was to give the reader the feeling of how it’s like to live in the moment. When there is so much at risk of losing, including time. And that would be an interesting detail if not for the writing. How it feels too mechanical and this time stamping adds to that feeling.

Matheson also uses the mean girl trope. This super-villain who is privliedged and can get away with practically anything. I understood why Matheson used this trope, but I always feel this is problematic when the conniving behavior is used solely to bully a child who is living in poverty and not exploring anything more.

Sadly, that’s what the story lacks. With such a subject matter the expectation should have a depth that drives the senses into a flurry. The feeling of hunger, how a stomach feels empty. The ache growing to a point of pain. Exploring not at the surface what food scarcity means and how that affects children and their overall health and mental state of mind.

Believe me, I want Maya and her family to have a stable income and home. To be able to live a life outside of poverty. But I think the author did not effectively write a story that is as important and compelling as the subject matter warrants and deserves.

With relevant topics, Shelter, though brief, has a hopeful conclusion and is a starting point for young readers to begin thoughtful and purposeful conversations about homelessness.

Happy Reading ~ Cece

Shelter is the story of Maya, a fifth grader who has recently become houseless after a distracted driver caused her dad to end up in the hospital. Maya struggles to keep the secret from her best friend Abby and teachers at school, but as more and more continues to weigh on her, Maya realizes that there is power and healing in sharing your experiences.

This is a relatively quick read that packs a powerful punch. I loved how Maya talks about the importance of small acts of kindness, and how you never know what someone is going through. While I am fortunate enough to not be affected by food insecurity, I saw a lot of it in high school and college. Food insecurity and homelessness impacts more people than we realize, and I think it's especially important for younger readers to see the impacts they have and how we can help those around us.