A Duet for Home

By Karina Yan Glaser

From the New York Times best-selling creator of the Vanderbeekers series comes a triumphant tale of friendship, healing, and the power of believing in ourselves, told from the perspectives of two biracial sixth graders living in a homeless shelter.

At first, June can’t believe it: their new home is a homeless shelter? When she’s told she can’t bring her cherished viola inside, she’s convinced the worst luck in the world landed her at Huey House.

But Tyrell has lived at Huey House for three years, and he knows all the good things about it: friendship, hot meals, and the music from next door drifting through the windows. With his help, June begins to see things differently. Just as she’s starting to understand how Huey House can be a home, a new government policy threatens all the residents. Can June and Tyrell work together to find a way to save Huey House as they know it?

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9780358697176

Karina Yan Glaser

Karina Glaser is the New York Times bestselling author of the Vanderbeekers series and A Duet for Home. A former teacher as well as employee of New York City’s largest provider of transitional housing for the homeless, Karina is now a contributing editor at Book Riot. Karina lives in Harlem, New York City, with her husband, two children, and assortment of rescue animals. One of her proudest achievements is raising two kids who can’t go anywhere without a book. Visit her at karinaglaser.com. 

Book preview

Dedication

To Steve

and to

everyone

searching

for home

Epigraph

I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth,

And laid them away in a box of gold.

—Countee Cullen

Someday we will become

something we haven’t even

yet imagined.

—Yuyi Morales

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Sunday, September 30

One: June

Two: Tyrell

Three: June

Four: Tyrell

Five: June

Six: Tyrell

Seven: June

Eight: Tyrell

Nine: June

Ten: Tyrell

Eleven: June

Twelve: Tyrell

Thirteen: June

Fourteen: Tyrell

Monday, October 1

Fifteen: June

Sixteen: Tyrell

Seventeen: June

Eighteen: Tyrell

Nineteen: June

Twenty: Tyrell

Twenty-One: June

Twenty-Two: Tyrell

Twenty-Three: June

Twenty-Four: Tyrell

Twenty-Five: June

Twenty-Six: Tyrell

Twenty-Seven: June

Tuesday, October 2

Twenty-Eight: Tyrell

Twenty-Nine: June

Thirty: Tyrell

Thirty-One: June

Thirty-Two: Tyrell

Thirty-Three: June

Wednesday, October 3

Thirty-Four: Tyrell

Thirty-Five: June

Thirty-Six: Tyrell

Thirty-Seven: June

Thirty-Eight: Tyrell

Thirty-Nine: June

Thursday, October 4

Forty: Tyrell

Forty-One: June

Forty-Two: Tyrell

Forty-Three: June

Forty-Four: Tyrell

Friday, October 5

Forty-Five: June

Forty-Six: Tyrell

Forty-Seven: June

Forty-Eight: Tyrell

Saturday, October 6

Forty-Nine: June

Fifty: Tyrell

Sunday, October 7

Fifty-One: June

Monday, October 8

Fifty-Two: Tyrell

Monday, October 22

Fifty-Three: June

Fifty-Four: Tyrell

Tuesday, October 23

Fifty-Five: June

Fifty-Six: Tyrell

Fifty-Seven: June

Fifty-Eight: Tyrell

Wednesday, October 24

Fifty-Nine: June

Sixty: Tyrell

Thursday, October 25

Sixty-One: June

Sixty-Two: Tyrell

Sixty-Three: June

Sixty-Four: Tyrell

Friday, October 26

Sixty-Five: June

Sixty-Six: Tyrell

Sixty-Seven: June

Sixty-Eight: Tyrell

Sixty-Nine: June

Seventy: Tyrell

Seventy-One: June

Seventy-Two: Tyrell

Music in A Duet for Home

Author’s Note

Author’s Note About the Cantonese in the Book

About the Author

Back Ad

Copyright

About the Publisher

Sunday, September 30

Days at Huey House

Tyrell: 1,275; June: 1

One

June

CAN BAD LUCK FOLLOW A PERSON FOREVER? June Yang had always believed there was a cosmic distribution of fortune by which everyone had equal amounts of good and bad luck in their lives. But here June was, miles away from home, standing in front of a drab, used-to-be-white building with her viola strapped to her back and a black garbage bag next to her filled with everything she owned in the whole world. Her theory about luck must be wrong, because it seemed as if she had had enough bad luck for two lifetimes.

What is this place? asked Maybelle, her little sister.

June didn’t answer. She stared up at the building. The entrance had a crooked sign nailed over the entrance that said HUEY HOUSE.

Maybelle, who was six years old, wore multiple layers of clothes on that unseasonably warm September afternoon: several pairs of underwear, leggings under her jeans, two T-shirts, three long-sleeved shirts, a sweater, her puffy jacket, a scarf, winter hat, and sneakers with two pairs of socks. If she fell over, she might roll down the street and disappear forever. June admired Maybelle’s foresight, though. By wearing nearly every item of clothing she owned, she had freed up room in her garbage bag for the things she really could not live without: her books (all about dogs) and stuffed animals (also all dogs).

Maybelle really liked dogs.

Is this like jail? Maybelle continued, poking the bristly hairs from the bottom of her braid against her lips. Did we do something really bad? When can we go home again?

June put on her everything will be just fine! face. Of course it’s not jail! she said. It’s an apartment building! We’re going to live here! It’s going to be great! Then she reached up to grab the straps of her viola case, reassuring herself it was still there.

"It looks like a jail," Maybelle said dubiously.

June gave the building a good, hard stare. Even though it appeared sturdy, it seemed . . . exhausted. There were lots of concrete repair patches on the bricks, and some of the windows were outfitted with black safety bars. The door was thick metal with a skinny rectangle of a window covered by a wire cage, just like the windows at school.

It did look like a jail, but June wasn’t going to tell Maybelle that.

She glanced at her mom, but June already knew she wouldn’t have anything to say. Mom had stopped talking about six months ago, right after the accident.

June, where are—

Before Maybelle could finish her sentence, the metal door of the building creaked open. A man—his head shaved, two gold earrings in the upper part of his ear, and wearing a black T-shirt—emerged and stared down at them from his great height. He looked like a guy who belonged on one of those world wrestling shows her dad would never let them watch. Maybelle shrank behind her, and Mom stood there still and quiet, her face blank and unreadable. June referred to this as her marble-statue face. Once, on a school field trip, June had gone to a fancy museum and there was a whole room of carved marble heads, their unemotional faces giving nothing away.

You guys coming in? the man asked, jamming a thumb toward the building.

June fumbled in her jeans pocket for the piece of paper the lady at EAU, or the Emergency Assistance Unit, had given her. The marshal, who delivered the notice of eviction, had instructed them to go to the EAU when June told him they had nowhere else to go.

June had packed up all their stuff while Maybelle cried and Mom shut herself in her bedroom. After checking and double-checking directions to the EAU (June had had no idea what that was), she’d managed to pack their things into three black garbage bags. She told Maybelle that they were going to a new home but then immediately regretted it when her sister wanted to know all the details: Was it a house or an apartment? How many bedrooms did it have? Was the kitchen large?

That was last night. Other than a funeral home, the EAU was the most depressing place June had ever been. After filling out a stack of forms and spending the night in the EAU hallway, which they shared with three other families and buzzing fluorescent lights, June had been told by the lady in charge to come here. Staring at the building and hoping it wasn’t their new home, June crossed her fingers and begged the universe to have mercy on them.

The universe decided to ignore her, because the man said, The EAU sent you, right? First-timers?

June nodded, but her stomach felt as if it were filled with rocks.

I’m Marcus, he said. Head of security here.

Security? Maybelle moved even closer to June while Mom maintained her marble-statue face.

Marcus pointed to June’s viola case. You can’t bring that inside. It’ll get confiscated in two seconds.

June wrapped her fingers around the straps so tightly she could feel her knuckles getting numb. It’s just a viola, she said, her voice coming out squeaky.

Exactly. Instruments aren’t allowed.

June tried to look strong and confident, like her dad would have wanted her to be. There’s no way I’m letting you take this away from me. After all, the viola was the only thing Dad had left her. It was equal to over two years of his tip money. Even after so many months, June could picture him as if he were still with them. Dad making delivery after delivery through congested and uneven Chinatown streets, plastic bags of General Tso’s chicken and pork dumplings hanging from his handlebars. Dad riding his bike through punishing snowstorms because people didn’t want to leave their house to get food. Dad putting the tip money into the plastic bag marked VIOLA in the freezer at the end of every shift, his version of a savings account.

Maybelle, still hiding behind her, called out, June’s the best eleven-year-old viola player in the world.

That’s not true, June said humbly, but then she wondered if Marcus thought she was going to play awful music that drove him bananas. She added, But I’m not, like, a beginner or anything. No one had a problem with me practicing in our old apartment. And I play classical music. Mozart and Vivaldi and Bach. She felt herself doing that nervous babble thing. I can also play Telemann if you like him. He lived during Bach’s time . . .

Marcus’s mouth stayed in a straight line, but she could tell he was softening.

After a long pause, he spoke. I can hide it in my office. If you bring it inside and she sees you with it, she’ll throw it out.

June swallowed. What kind of monster would throw away an instrument? And how could she be sure that Marcus wouldn’t run off with it?

I promise to keep it safe, he added simply.

June felt Maybelle’s skinny finger stick into her back. You’re not really going to give it to him, are you?

June never let anyone touch her instrument, ever. Maybelle had known that rule the moment June showed her the viola for the first time. But what choice did June have now? It was either trust a stranger with her viola or lose it forever.

She handed the viola case over, her skin prickling with a thousand needles of unease.

Two

Tyrell

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! Happy birthday, dear [unintelligible murmuring]! Happy birthday to you!"

Tyrell Chee looked at his best friend, Jeremiah Jones, and smirked. Jeremiah shrugged, then turned his attention back to the handful of middle schoolers from the Cressida School for Girls. The Cressidas never bothered to learn anyone’s name before the birthday song. Tyrell and Jeremiah knew not to say anything about it, or even to laugh. One, because they were nice kids, okay? And two, because MacVillain would erupt like Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE (their history teacher, Ms. Koss, had told them all about how that volcano buried whole cities).

The Cressidas, who had their drivers bring them to the South Bronx from their fancy private school in Manhattan, had brought a birthday cake for the kids at Huey House who had September birthdays. The cake was in a pink box with a gold sticker that said Amelie’s Patisserie in curly script and was set on a folding table that had one sad red streamer taped to the front. Tyrell liked ice cream cakes best, but nobody had asked him. A pile of presents wrapped in shiny paper sat stacked on the floor. Once the Cressidas were done singing, the little kids shrieked with happiness and nearly knocked each other over as they rushed for the gifts. Tyrell and Jeremiah, however, stayed cool. They had lived here for three years. They knew what to expect.

The Cressidas carried the stacks of presents to Lulu, who was sixteen and the only person there who looked as if she was in charge. They then migrated to a corner, where they whipped out their phones, as if major things had gone down in the ten minutes they had spent setting up this birthday party, which counted toward their community service credits. Tyrell glanced over at Stephanie, the employee who usually worked the front desk. She was supposed to be supervising but was on her phone instead, probably sending selfies to her boyfriend.

Tyrell stood there, trying to ignore the screams of the younger kids, but Jeremiah shoved his hands in his pockets and drifted over to help Lulu. Even though he never said anything about it, Jeremiah crushed on her so hard. Who could blame him? Lulu had swishy dark hair that was shiny and long. Tyrell had tried to touch it once to see what it felt like, but she’d caught his wrist and said, Touch my hair and you die.

Anyway.

Lulu directed the little kids to sit on a faded rug with a picture of a bear in a hot-air balloon on it, and Tyrell watched Jeremiah distribute the gifts.

Tyrell and Jeremiah were like brothers. They had moved in within a week of each other, and it was like glue and paper from the start. Shared the same birthday (September 9), went to sixth grade at the same boring school a few blocks away from Huey House (M.S. 121), and loved oranges but hated bananas. Even though they were together all the time, no one ever mixed them up. Jeremiah was built like a football fullback, big and solid as a refrigerator; Tyrell was more like a basketball point guard, wiry and fast, and it was good he was fast, because he spent a lot of time running away from trouble. And though he had always admired Jeremiah’s cornrows, Tyrell’s hair was too straight for that style. Ma said he got his brown skin from her and his straight black hair from his dad.

The kids ripped open the presents, screaming with joy. Then the door to the meeting room burst open and a frazzled woman with pink hair wearing a dress printed with tiny kittens stepped into the room. She carried a giant cloth bag filled with something heavy on her shoulder. The room quieted down and everyone stared at her.

Whoa, the little kids breathed, their eyes wide.

Ms. Hunter! squealed the Cressidas, instantly pocketing their phones and rushing to her.

Sorry I’m late, people, the kitten lady said, giving a tiny wave with her hand up by her ear. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed at her neck, then said, I took a wrong turn when I got off the subway. I’m Ms. Hunter, the head librarian at Cressida. Sorry I’m late. It’s not easy getting around the city when you’re dragging around awesomeness! She pointed to the bag.

Tyrell exchanged an eyebrow raise with Jeremiah.

Are you ready? Ms. Hunter asked.

Yes! shrieked the little kids, jumping up from their rug spots, abandoning their gifts, and swarming her.

Now, I have to warn you, Ms. Hunter said, putting out a hand to prevent the kids from trampling her. This bag is filled with extremely rare, priceless, and dangerous stuff.

Whoa, Tyrell thought. This lady is good.

Jameel, who was six, bit his lips. How dangerous? he lisped through his missing teeth.

So dangerous, Ms. Hunter said. If Ms. Gonzalez were here, she would kick me out immediately.

Ooh, the little kids said, glancing at each other with big eyes.

Okay, fine. So this lady was really good. In English class, they call it building suspense. But just as kitten-dress lady opened the bag to reveal the rare, priceless, and dangerous contents, the door opened again and Ms. G appeared.

Three

June

JUNE WATCHED AS MARCUS SLUNG HER VIOLA case over his shoulder and grabbed two of their bulkier garbage bags with one hand. When he turned, she noticed that the back of his T-shirt was emblazoned with one word in bold yellow letters: SECURITY. Heaving the last garbage bag into her arms, June followed him up a dark set of steps and through another door, which he held open for her, and entered a lobby with mismatched chairs scattered on two sides. A lady with spiky hair pushed a clipboard through an opening in the thick glass window she was sitting behind.

Marcus tapped the glass with his knuckles and held up the instrument case. The spiky-hair lady rolled her eyes but got up and disappeared from sight before appearing at a door that opened into the lobby. She grabbed the case from Marcus and the door closed behind her with a loud click. Standing on tiptoe, June pressed her forehead against the glass, but she couldn’t see where the lady was storing her viola. When the lady reappeared, she was empty-handed.

Sign in and take a seat, she said, her voice muffled by the glass barrier. Her short fingernails tapped the counter as she waited. Marcus hovered next to her like a Secret Service detail, his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes scanning the lobby as June filled in their names. Her hand hesitated for a moment over the box for Time In. The last two days had been a blur, and somewhere along the way June had realized her watch was missing.

It’s four forty-four p.m., Marcus offered.

June froze.

Six months ago, June had never paid any attention to her parents’ over-the-top superstitions. For her parents, everything was governed by luck. They even made sure their daughters’ names had eight letters. The number eight, pronounced baat in Cantonese, sounds like the word faat, which means fortune. When her

Reviews for A Duet for Home

[robenc-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Ooph! This book! For about the first 100 pages, I wasn't sure I could keep reading. Not because it wasn't good - it was great. But also just so overwhelming. The story is told in alternating chapters by two tweens.Tyrell is a biracial twelve year old that lives in a New York City homeless shelter with his mom - who is completely indifferent to Tyrell. Your heart will ache repeatedly for Tyrell. And also cheer him on as he finds ways to deal with his anger.June finds herself somewhat unknowingly settled into the homeless shelter with her mom and 6 year old little sister. They are Chinese - her mom does not speak or understand a lot of English so June translates everything and fills out paperwork. The whole family is dealing with grief from the death of June's dad six months ago - but her mom is almost catatonic. So June is left to deal with taking care of her little sister and their eviction from their apartment all by herself. It took me a while to accept that the system would let June and her sister slip through the cracks but then I realized that allowing a child to act as translator is probably a fairly common thing so - people either did not notice or did not care.Both of these kids are complex characters that are carrying so much weight - but with the help of a couple of great adults (Ms. G and Marcus) they manage to not just survive but excel.The home where they live - and the entire homelessness "problem" in NYC - has been targeted by the mayor because she is up for re-election and it is a major issue. The proposed solution is to move families out of the shelters more quickly into "permanent" housing with vouchers and thus free up space to move in more people off the street. It doesn't matter to City Hall that the "permanent" housing is not only sub-standard but also remote - without access to transportation and in dangerous neighborhoods. It is basically a putting lipstick on a pig solution.The person that runs the shelter where Tyrell and June live does not care about the people in the shelter - she just wants her money and possible incentives from the housing agency. But Marcus, the security guard, and Ms. G - a social worker - do care about the people.Although June and Tyrell get off to a rocky start, they soon become friends. And they bond over music. June plays viola. And Tyrell loves classical music. A mysterious neighbor who lives in a brownstone next to their shelter plays beautiful music every night. And Tyrell is always there to listen. This mystery musician ends up being a somewhat unexpected lifesaver for the kids.When the kids and families learn about the plan to kick them out of the shelter and fire Ms. G, they rally together and march on City Hall to demand a voice in what is being foisted on them. But will it be enough?The book does end on a hopeful note and I am glad I kept reading - so much happens to June and Tyrell in the few months covered in the story but ultimately it has a positive resolution. The author did work in the NYC system for several years. It is a huge, complicated, messy situation and it is often easy to forget that it is made up of individual people who each have their own hopes and dreams and stories.

[acargile-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Duet for Home presents the story of homeless people and those who actually help them.After June's father passed away, June has had to take care of everything because her mother descends into severe depression. Her mother becomes a mere object in the novel; she sits like a statue, failing to go to work and hardly speaking. June finds herself packing up what they have into three garbage bags and moving into Huey House. She discovers it's a place for homeless people. She's mortified and then ends up the butt of a joke that wasn't meant for her on the first night! It's not a great beginning. She quickly discovers this home provides a bridge to returning to independence. The social worker meets with everyone weekly and really cares for the people and provides special gifts for everyone. She gets training for people in skills, cooks for the people, gets their favorite foods, and finds safe places the families can actually move to and succeed. June meets the perpetrators of the jokesters and immediately becomes friends with both of them. June's sister, Maybelle, adapts very quickly. She makes friends and there is an animal that needs her love. In other words, Huey House is a family.Maybelle: loves animals and wants Nana, a dog who lives in a shelter by their old home.Tyrell: lives at Huey house for 1,275 days when June arrives. He loves pulling pranks with his best friend, Jeremiah. His mom cares only for herself and can't hold down a job.Jeremiah: lives with his mom and is Tyrell's best friend; they plan on getting an apartment together when they "age out" at 18. He makes sure he and Tyrell get their homework done.Lulu: lives with her mother and grandmother, helping out anytime she's needed. She's very good with kids.Ms. Gonzalez: works at Huey House as the family services director. She listens and cares for the residents.Marcus: works at Huey House as security, making everyone feel safe and seen. He protects people from the director, Ms. MacMillan, who has very strict rules, esp. regarding music.The homeless become real people, not an amorphous group labeled, "homeless" who need to be hidden. June continues to attend her former school in China town, but she doesn't want anyone to know what is going on with her and her family. She and her sister get on the bus each morning at 5:30 a.m. for a two-hour bus ride to school. Then, it's a two-hour ride home. That's a lot of travel time. She takes complete responsibility for raising her sister, as their mother doesn't seem to realize they exist. She wakes her sister up at 5:00, gets them both ready and on the bus. Lulu greets them the first morning to make sure they are doing well. Eventually, they settle into this routine. Upon returning home, June finds dinner in the cafeteria enjoyable (although not particularly edible), becoming friends with Tyrell and Jeremiah. Marcus helps her hide her viola, as instruments are not allowed. Tyrell helps her find a place to practice, as June wants to join the orchestra at school. Little does June know, but Tyrell listens to classical music from someone who plays the violin nightly at 8:00. He sits in a window and listens. It's because of the people at Huey House that June finds a new viola teacher and finds her voice as a person and a musician.These people support and care for each other until the city wants to intrude. People believe there are way too many "homeless" taking tax payer's money, so they need to get them into homes and jobs. These places to help them cost too much. Underneath the stresses of being homeless and trying to find a way out, looms this new threat. Rumors have it that in 90 days everyone must move on. They would lose the support system, especially Ms. Gonzalez. Rumor also has it that the relocations are terrible. There might not be water or there's a long walk to the subway, making getting a job harder. It's a step down, not a step up. How do you fight back when you are down? June and Tyrell find a strong friendship, people they can depend on when they can't depend on their biological families. You see resilience in this novel. You see people who truly care and actually help people to work themselves out of homelessness. It's an uplifting book about humanity.

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When June's family is evicted from their apartment, they find themselves at Huey House, a family homeless shelter in New York City. Though there are lots of strict rules and it's a long ride to their school every day, June and her younger sister Maybelle eventually start to make friends with the other kids at the shelter, particularly Tyrell, a fallow music lover, who has been in residence there for over three years. But when city-wide housing policies threaten changes for the residents of Huey House, can June and her friends find a way to stand up for themselves and make their voices heard?This is a very New York-centric story -- which is not a positive or a negative, it just is. I really empathized with the characters, so much so that I felt low-key anxious the whole way through, mostly about the possibility of June's viola being confiscated (there's a no-instruments rule at the shelter) or that something would happen to Maybelle's favorite dog at the animal shelter before she could visit it again. I thought the ending was a little rosy-hued, but for a kids' book, that sort of hopefulness is warranted. This review doesn't sound as positive as I feel about the story in general. This is a good text for building empathy about kids experiencing homelessness in a big city, and I hope it finds a wide audience.

[lisa2013_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All of the characters in this book are relatable, both the children and the adults. I fell in love with so many of them. There are many characters in this book and it was easy to keep track of all of them. Maybelle is a particularly memorable character. She is the little sister but she makes a big impression. She is vegetarian, though not vegan, and not really completely vegetarian (though she doesn’t know it; I’m thinking of the gelatin in jelly beans, etc.) but she won’t eat anything that’s obviously meat. Given that neither her mother or her sister or anyone around her is vegetarian, and her young age, making that connection between the animals she loves and the food that gets eaten is impressive. I like how her older sister eats that way with her sometimes and at times provides their mother with the same meatless foods and makes sure that meat stays off her plate. Maybelle also loves dogs and is great with them. She is also a good watchdog for the environment. She is only six (most of the other main child characters are about eleven) but she holds her own. The ending felt extremely rushed and quite a bit unrealistic but I liked how the kids took action for themselves and for others too. Kids empowered is a great thing to show. I felt strong emotions while reading this and came close to tears several times. A quote that I liked: “Home was a funny thing. You thought it meant one thing, only to discover that it meant something else entirely.”At the end of the book there is a list of the music that appears in the book, all classical pieces.In the main author’s note at the end of the book she writes about herself and the reader sees how she is supremely qualified to write this children’s novel. I was thrilled to find a likeminded person (a real child that she quotes) who also hated the book The Giving Tree . I cried even more reading the note than reading the book. Ms. G. is a favorite character of mine in the book and now I see that the author was a very similar real life person. The note is important. I had no idea how true to life/history the book’s story is. An author’s note about the Cantonese language used in the book is also included. I’ve loved this author’s Vanderbeekers books. I plan to read any books that she writes if they appeal to me in even the slightest way. She’s a treasure. Highly recommended for families and teachers reading aloud for ages 6-12, and for independent readers. Recommended for kids who have financial struggles and/or family problems or know those who do too, though it depends on the child. This book could be uplifting or triggering or both. Despite the maybe too happy ending most of the story does not sugar coat the hard realities of being a homeless child, teen, adult, family, and realistically there is no real ending since the characters are aware that they don’t know what will happen in their futures. This is an excellent story, and it’s often heartbreaking, occasionally humorous, and always heartfelt.4-1/2 stars

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Given that you could round this book up to 400 pages, it isn't the shortest middle grade novel I've ever read. There wasn't any point during the reading where I found myself disliking it, but it didn't fully pull me in until more than halfway through.It was then that I really got a sense of community at Huey House, so the impermanence of it hit me. The thought of kids who can lose their housemate friends at any time.The climax was exciting. And even if it did begin to feel more perfect than something like it might play out in real life, I appreciate stories that show kids being proactive about what concerns them. Yes, children do have limits, but even they can do more than just let life happen to them.I had a little comedown right after the climax as the story ended faster than I'd anticipated. I wanted a little more for one of the main characters.But, hey. I think the kids will be okay anyway.

[deslivres5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a big fan of Karina Yan Glaser's Vanderbeekers juvenile fiction series.In her new juvenile fiction title, A Duet for Home, one gets some of the similar vibes as the Vanderbeekers: NYC, enterprising children, cute little sister, musical threads, multi-cultural diversity, big animal loves.This story is grittier and not all happiness and sunshine. There are some baddies/not very supportive adults thrown in their paths. But one embraces and roots all the way for the children and their adult allies in this story, set in a transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness.An eye opener of day-to-day living in transitional housing based on the author's prior experience working with families in NYC. Told in the alternating voices of June, who just arrived at the house and Tyrell, who has lived there for 3 years.