Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco

The book I chose to talk about for Family Life Example post 1900 is:  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco by Summer Brenner which is masterfully illustrated by Brian Bowes published in 2011 by PM Press and distributed by Reach and Teach. This book is a sometimes funny, often delightful, sometimes painful but most of the time it is a moving story with a crucial lesson about the energy, vitality, strength and pivotal role of family in the lives of young children. This children’s novel is about Ivy and her father Poppy. More importantly Summer Brenner’s marvelous work is a book is about an average eleven year old girl named Ivy who has some extraordinary experiences and adventures which include living in a loft, to being homeless in San Francisco (everything form living in a car, living in a park, to living in a shelter) to finding and in effect adopting dog before they are taken in by an elderly couple.  Ivy sometimes misses school for extended periods of time through out her experiences as homeless because she is so often on the move. Ivy slowly gets her new life together in more effective and heartfelt ways through her relationship to her dad and the humor, hope, resilience and love they share. She learns that life itself, and lessons from her dad, can have lessons that are more practical, impactful and lasting than any lessons from school.

Homelessness, particularly for youth, children and single parent families is steadily rising every year across the United States.  The publishers of the book are trying to do something about it through Project IVY.  

Reach and Teach has also successfully integrated the book with California state standards so it can be taught in schools around the bay area with this study guide.

To relate this to the assignment, Poppy and Ivy have a phenomenal father-daughter relationship that is carefully crafted through out the book. The missing mother is explained and Poppy’s relationship to his own dad (Ivy’s paternal grandpa) is explained in bits and pieces as well.  Ivy: Homeless in San Francisco examines the role of family in single parent (in Ivy’s case single father) homeless families, which is an overlooked but tragically growing population in the Bar Area and across the United States. I for one am incredibly impressed by the resilience, strength, integrity, humor, and love through out this book, especially the unique but somehow universal father daughter bond Poppy and Ivy share.