This book is full of heart. Zig has such a believable voice. I felt his emotions as he navigated a world all too real for many kids today. It will bring a new perspective for many kids, but while still being delicate about tough subjects like home abuse and Alzheimer's. All in all it is a great read for all ages.

Zig's parents divorced three years ago, he doesn't see his dad much.  When his dad visits, it's always great, but dad has been too busy and cancelled the last few trips.  Zig finds an old GPS device and decides to search for his dad through geocaching, which his dad did in the past.  Zig and his mom lose their apartment and that is when Zig searches the hardest for his dad, convinced he has found him through a geocacher named Senior Searcher.  

What I loved about this book is the honest and realistic emotions.  Zig's homelessness is portrayed from many points of view and offers understanding to those not familiar with it.  One of Zig's teachers is ignorant of the problems of homelessness while other adults in school quietly offer support.  Zig's embarrassment prevents him from telling his best friends, Gianna and Ruby.  And support of his plight comes from the unlikeliest place.

Kirby "Zig" Zigonsky is a middle school tinkerer who can't wait to see his dad, who has been MIA for over a year.  When his latest visit gets cancelled, Zig starts on a geocaching mission around town to find him.  Meanwhile, he and his mom go through a variety of hard times, including experiencing homelessness and staying in a shelter, and Zig does his best to navigate social relationships with those around him.  

Widening perspectives and building empathy is one of the biggest benefits of kid lit, and Kate Messner has done a great job handling homelessness and other issues with sensitivity.  The Exact Location of Home is well suited to mature 4th & 5th graders up through middle school readers.

I had the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for this review. This book deals with a very important topic, homelessness, in a very realistic and sensitive way. We never know who among our students, coworkers, classmates, or neighbors might be experiencing financial difficulties, and this novel tells the story of a family that is living that nightmare. 

Eighth grader Kirby starts the school year with the normal stress of homework, changing dynamics of relationships with friends, and missing his dad. His parents had divorced several years prior and his dad rarely comes to town to see him. His mother works extra shifts as a waitress at a local diner and is studying to become a nurse. As he becomes aware of the money troubles facing them, he becomes convinced that if he could get in touch with his father everything would be all right. His father is into geocaching as a hobby and Kirby gets the idea in his head that he could track down his father by pursuing this scavenger hunt game with a GPS device. 

I like that this story is told from a boy’s point of view. The character development is very authentic and I believe middle grade kids will be able to relate to Kirby. Because of the social pressures facing kids in this age group, it's very difficult to let others know that you're having problems or that you need help. The book has some terrific lessons for all of us about making negative assumptions about people. While the main characters in this story are eighth graders, I believe this book would be appropriate for kids in upper elementary grades and maybe even some high schoolers.

So, so great! Once again, Kate Messner tackles tough topics in such a loving, age appropriate way for middle grade readers. I'm so glad she returned to the world of Gianna Z and told Zig's important and heartwarming story.

This story is about Zig, a 13 year old trying to survive middle school and figure out what happened to his dad.  Then, due to some unforeseen circumstances, he and his mom find themselves homeless.  It's easy to identify with Zig and how difficult homelessness is and how much he wants to keep that a secret from his friends.  This is a great story.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for the advance e-ARC of Kate Messner's newest novel. It greatly helps this middle school librarian plan, purchase, and promote! This one is out on 9/12.

4/5 stars for this heartbreaking story of family secrets and hard times. Kirby "Zig" Zigonski loves to tinker, fix things, and go geocaching with his dad. He hasn't seen his dad in a few months though, and when his dad backs out of a planned weekend together Zig wants to know what's up. His mother, who works shifts at a diner in between nursing school, won't let him contact his dad. Then Zig discovers that they are months behind on rent, and before he knows it, he and his mother are in a homeless shelter. Zig knows that if he can just find his father, things will be okay again. He finds a geocacher whose name leads him to believe that it has to be his father. Zig knows he can set things right.

This was a quick, heartfelt read that will resonate with patient readers. I am interested to see if students will relate to the geocaching theme.

I love all things Kate Messner and The Exact Location of Home was no exception! I really enjoyed being back wth Gianna and Zig, and I like that this book allowed me to get to know Zig better. I really appreciate how Kate is able to take important, yet tough, subjects and appropriately put them into books that are accessible to kids. Unfortunately most of these topics, such as drug abuse and homelessness, are a reality and it is important for kids to learn more about them. Kate did a great job, yet again, tackling the tough topics in this book!

An important book for students and teachers to read. The heart of the story is the isolation that comes with homelessness, and the hope that one needs to get through each long day when faced with that sort of upheaval. Kate Messner tells Zig's story with honesty, and he will stay with me as I work with my students all year.

Zig hasn't seen his dad in over a year and his mother won't give him any explanation as to why. Zig thinks geocaching will help him find his dad so he follows the clues around his town. Finding his dad is not Zig's only problem as his mother is unable to afford the bills and they must leave their apartment. Zig and the other characters in this book are facing realistic challenges in their lives. This book deals with a serious issue in a way that will give readers insight without being too sad. The book shows that the lives of others may be different than they appear on the surface. There is also a message of hope as friends, family, and strangers support one another.

Kirby, known as "Zig" is a typical almost- eighth-grader when his world starts to slip out of control.  His father's unexplained, continual absence, new and confusing feelings for his best friend, and his sudden state of homelessness cause the perfect storm of adolescent confusion and anger.

Kate Messner handles the topic of homelessness with dignity.  Through Zig's eyes you experience the entire process from loosing his home to adjusting to living with strangers and hiding his situation from friends and schoolmates.  This book is wonderful for middle grade and up including adults.

Zig is a bright and compassionate character trying to navigate in a world that doesn't seem to make sense anymore. And the adults around him aren't exactly making it easier for him. Why did his dad disappear without at trace? Why won't his mother tell him where his dad is? But he has two very good friends, Ruby and Gianna, who are trying to help ... if he would only let them. A great story about friendship, family and the impact of hope in our lives.

A beautifully told story about friendship, family, and keeping secrets. 

Zig is an 8th grader whose life has been pretty normal. His parents are divorced. His mom is in nursing school. But then his dad disappears, and things get bad at home. 

Luckily, Zig has his friends Gianna and Rose to keep him somewhat distracted. He also discovers geocaching, which helps him feel connected to his dad. 

I liked Zig's character. He seemed pretty realistic as a typical middle school student.

It doesn't take much for your life to go off track. Zig is gifted a GPS at a yard sale. This gets him interested in geocaching, just like his MIA dad.  Soon Zig and his mom find their life in need of a GPS as they lose their apartment and are forced to move into a homeless shelter. Messner writes real and raw characters that help readers experience the grit of the world from safe behind a book.

This is the first children's book I have read dealing with homeless characters and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was emotionally invested in the life of the main character, 12 year old Zig.  The story, told from Zig's point of view, effortlessly weaves the circumstances of Zig and his mom's loss of their home/apartment into an appealing adventure filled with tension, mystery and just a touch of humor that any 5th - 7th grader could appreciate. The descriptions of the hobby of geocaching may intrigue readers to follow in Zig's footsteps since each cache is itself a new adventure.  The characters are not over developed and are easy for young readers to identify with, or at least recognize as representative of people they know in their own lives.  While love of books, saving the environment and a missing parent are common themes, they are treated with a light touch and simply presented as topics worth further consideration beyond the reading of this fine book.

Meissner nails it again. She does an amazing job of giving a voice to the voiceless. In The Exact Location of Home Zig struggles with understanding his changing family structure, friendships and relationships, and homelessness and hunger. This story was a great read for children in understanding those around them, but was an absolute necessity for teachers. More often than not we as educators need to set aside our expectations and standards and get to know our students and what makes them tick. This book held so much value I want to hand a copy to everyone I meet.

Zig is looking forward to a long-anticipated weekend with his traveling, business-minded father and when plans fall through once again, he peppers his mom with questions that she refuses to answer.  While Zig searches for answers on his own, he thinks he finds the trail of his father in a series of GPS geo-caching clues that he tracks down with his friends, Gianna and Ruby.  But when he and his mother lose their apartment and wind up homeless, Zig's search becomes even more desperate.

Messner explores the angst of childhood homelessness from a number of perspectives in this novel amazingly well.  Through Zig and his mother, she explores abandonment, identity, striving for excellence, poverty, resilience, stereotypes, and so much more.  A great novel for kids and TEACHERS to read.  As teachers, we never know the full story of what is going on in the lives of our students on a daily basis yet we still have such high expectations for them.  Now I wonder even more why some of my students perpetually don't have a pencil for class.  A must read.