No Fixed Address

It has always been just the two of them — Felix, 12 years old, and his mother, Astrid, whom he calls Astrid. Things have been tough for awhile, but when the last itinerant boyfriend leaves and they run out of friends to stay with, they find themselves living in a van. It’s just temporary, Astrid proclaims, but Felix knows Astrid has trouble holding jobs, especially when she goes into one of her slumps, and those slumps seem to be getting longer and more frequent. Still, Astrid has a way of making some things happen for Felix that are important to him. She gets him into a special French-immersion school he really wants to be in, and he loves it. Felix auditions for a TV trivia show that could change everything for them, but then the wheels start to come off.

Unfortunately, kids today face these kinds of problems far too frequently. Susin Nielsen has written a powerful story that will touch readers and reveal problems in today’s world kids need to understand. Nielsen uses great writing, terrific characters, humor, and heartbreak to keep readers turning pages. This book deserves readership well beyond her intended middle-grade audience.