The Cardboard Shack Beneath The Bridge: Helping Children Understand Homelessness

By Tim J Huff and Hilary M Weston

This book captures all that Tim has seen in his years working on the street with the homeless in a form children can easily understand. Homelessness has been called one of the greatest tragedies of our time. In an age of prosperity and plenty, hundreds of thousands of people, continue to find themselves homeless. Tim Huff has been called, by several national papers, as “not just another outreach worker, but a tireless activist for the cause of the homeless.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Castle Quay Books
• Release date: Oct 15, 2007
• ISBN: 9781927355138

Tim J Huff

Tim has dedicated his adult life to full-time charitable work, serving, learning and teaching across North America and internationally. Throughout his career, he has combined his passion for visual arts, writing and music with his commitment to social justice and compassion-focused initiatives. He is an acclaimed speaker, a best-selling author and award-winning author-illustrator of children’s books. His book titles, of which seven have either been nominated for or won national awards, include: Bent Hope: a Street Journal, Dancing with Dynamite: Celebrating Against the Odds (which won Best Canadian Book of the Year award in 2011), The Yuletide Factor: Cause for Perpetual Comfort and Joy, and his previous illustrated children’s books, The Cardboard Shack Beneath the Bridge: Helping Children Understand Homelessness, It’s Hard Not to Stare: Helping Children Understand Disabilities, The Honour Drum: Sharing the Beauty of Canada’s Indigenous People with Children, Families and Classrooms, Am I Safe: Exploring Fear and Anxiety with Children, Make Way for the Christmas Hush , and The Jellybean Kid-A Tender Family-friendly Story About a Young Boy’s Difficult Health Journey, all published by Castle Quay Books.

Book preview

Foreword

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I met Tim Huff for the first time during my term as the lieutenant governor of Ontario. He was my guide on a tour of the underbelly of Toronto’s night life, during which he took me to visit a relatively small area beneath a city expressway. I learned that countless homeless people may live there at any given time, many in makeshift shelters similar to the shack he describes in this remarkable little book. Tim knew nearly all of the residents of the expressway’s underworld by name, and his willingness to look out for their well-being was the stuff of street legend.

We live in an age of unprecedented prosperity, yet people walk the streets of our cities, hungry and with no place to go. Many are young people, escaping from frightening family circumstances, and are homeless through no fault of their own. They suffer loneliness and