Almost Home is a work of contemporary fiction by American author Joan Bauer. Taking place mostly in the inner city of Chicago, Illinois, it follows a twelve-year-old girl named Sugar Mae Cole who struggles to escape poverty in Missouri after the death of her grandfather. With no other family to lean on once her father, a gambling addict, flees and sends the family into homelessness, Sugar and her mother move to Chicago to start a new life. There, they quickly learn that the problems of economic and social immobility are hard to shake. Sugar and her mother band together to think proactively about their future, and find an unexpected reservoir of support and love in the ordinary people around them. Almost Home is similar to Bauer’s other works in its focus on an adolescent protagonist, as well as its resonance with themes of familial and social disarray, human resilience, and community building. Almost Home begins as Sugar and her mother, Reba, mourn the loss of Sugar’s grandfather, a warm and hardworking man who gave the family some much-needed wisdom and stability. Sugar’s father, on the other hand, is so absent that she knows him only as “Mr. Leeland.” When Mr. Leeland flees, taking with him all of their cash reserves, she and her mother struggle to manage financially. While out getting groceries, a little girl hands Sugar a puppy called Shush. She begs her to take him, or else her father, who abuses him, will bring him to a shelter. Though serendipitous moments like these lift their spirits, they are forced to accept that they can no longer afford their home, which Sugar’s grandfather initially helped purchase for the family. They pack their belongings and reluctantly leave the only house Sugar has ever called home, becoming homeless for the first time. Sugar and Reba manage their homelessness by traveling between shelters, occasionally sleeping in parks when the shelters are full. Sugar’s mother’s depression worsens, and she is completely unable to care for her, eventually landing in a mental health clinic. Both Sugar and her mother struggle to remain optimistic during this difficult transitional period. Reba seems unable to let go of the notion that Mr. Leeland will return and save her from poverty. However, Sugar endures by remembering her mother’s insistence on being grateful regardless of any single moment’s adversity. Sugar moves into a shelter specifically for homeless kids. After relocating permanently to Chicago, she is placed into foster care. She takes Shush with her, and is placed in the care of a loving couple, Lexie and Mac, who live in a nice neighborhood of the city. At her new school, Sugar gets a teacher, Mr. Bennett, who teaches her that writing can be a form of self-help and emotional catharsis. She begins to write poems pertaining to the things she has learned from her struggles with family and homelessness. Many of the poems relate to Mr. Leeland, an example of an adult who is too selfish to earn his family’s trust. As she writes, she reflects that some children are forced to grow up faster than others. Sugar shows a very resilient and pragmatic attitude towards her own accelerated maturation, and relies on her own street smarts to keep pressing on. Throughout Sugar’s trials and tribulations, Lexie and Mac support her as much as they can, while understanding that no parents are able to solve all of a child’s problems. At the conclusion of Almost Home, Sugar reflects that she has become a much stronger and optimistic person than she was when her grandfather died. She credits much of her personal development to the encouragement of her mother, who overcame much of her mental illness to teach her valuable life lessons about perseverance. Almost Home thus suggests that even the most struggling individuals have dignity, potential, and value, and that banding together can help people transcend any adversity.

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Joan Bauer

Middle grade

Novel

Fiction

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Almost Home

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