You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Barrington Stoke will publish Kate Milner's picture book Nowhere to Call Home, which will explore the growing problem of homelessness in a "gentle yet powerful" way.
Ailsa Bathgate, editorial director, acquired world rights from Caroline Walsh at David Higham Associates. The picture book will be published on World Homeless Day on 10th October 2021.
The number of people in temporary accommodation in England is at its highest level in 14 years, while 70,000 households have been made homeless since the start of the pandemic. With her picture book, Milner aims to promote kindness and understanding, foster compassion, and call attention to an appalling and growing crisis, says the publisher.
The synopsis reads: "Mum can’t afford the rent any more, so she and her two young children must move into a hostel while they wait their turn to get to the top of the housing list. Their new home throws up lots of challenges – they have to share a bathroom and the kitchen, and there is lots of noise at night. With no space to play or peace to do homework, tempers can fray, but as long as they have each other, they’ll find a way through."
Bathgate said: "As an editor, it is a privilege to work with an author-illustrator as talented as Kate Milner, with her incredible ability to portray the tenderness and love in relationships between children and their parents no matter their circumstances. I wish that this story and the others we have published with her weren’t necessary. I wish they weren’t true and that we didn’t live in a society so rife with inequality and hardship. But as we do, it feels important that Kate’s powerful work shines a light on the reality of life for far too many families in the hope that those in the same situation don’t feel so alone, so that others can try to understand and empathise rather than judge and, if they are listening, shock those in power into taking action. Surely everyone has the right to a decent home for their family?"
Milner commented: "“What is it like to be a child in a family that is being thrown out of their home because they can’t afford to pay the rent? What happens to that child and how do they feel about their situation? The problems of long-term poverty are affecting more and more children and it’s important that their experience is seen by everybody. I hope this picture book can show even the youngest of readers that understanding and kindness are needed, and that homelessness is an issue we can all tackle together."
Milner is the author of Klaus Flugge Prize-winner My Name is Not Refugee (The Bucket List, 2017) and recently CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal-shortlisted It’s a No-Money Day (Barrington Stoke, 2019).