Paper Things, Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Ari, age 11, and Gage, her brother, age 19, are on their own and homeless. Being orphans, the home they had with Janna is not working for Gage and he insists he can take care of his younger sister on his own. Shuffling from couch to couch, floor to floor, or when necessity calls, the homeless shelter, they trudge with their few belongings from place to place. Lack of food, wrinkled clothes, disheveled hair, and a hungry stomach get to be too much for Ari to hide from her best friend, Sasha, and others suspecting things are not going so well. Her comfort is her years of "paper things" she has cut from catalogs to make families and homes and comforts that she, herself, does not have.

Reggie and his dog, Amelia who make their home in a rented storage unit, offers them a night of respite and he makes Ari a paper airplane using a Jiffy Lube advertisement. Coincidentally Gage lands his first job at Jiffy Lube . . . leading Ari to believe his planes make wishes come true. With Sashi pulling away and making new friends, Ari finds a new friend in Daniel, the weird kid with a bucket list of things to do before moving on from Eastland Elementary.

With the growing concern of more and more students living in poverty and without homes, this is such a story and how well some students can hide their situation. It gives us a glimpse into the life of one girl trying to remain true to her home with her brother doing his best and the one with Janna that may not include Gage.