Stunning. Another brilliant and highly-accessible book from Karina Yan Glaser. Anyone who has heard me talk about books knows that the Vanderbeekers series is one that I recommend to everyone, and it is also a series that I draw a lot of inspiration from as an author. One of my favorite things about Karina Yan Glaser is that she's able to make her settings just as a much a character in her novels as all the people and pets....this is true in Vanderbeekers, and it's equally true in A Duet for Home. I felt so *present* in the Huey House shelter, the well-drawn neighborhood, and in the lives of all these characters. This is both a really eye-opening story (and is clearly a subject Glaser knows a lot about), and in addition to being inspiring and informative, is also a really FUN story to read. I loved June, Tyrell, and all the side characters who filled this book with love, humor, and personality.

An incredible book featuring a dual point of view- June and Tyrell who each live at The Huey House, a homeless shelter. They each have to find their own way, yet have to come together to fight for what is viral. Heartwarming, poignant, meaningful. A mirrors/ windows book.

This is a heartwarming story set in a family homeless shelter in New York. The story is told through the eyes of June who has just arrived with her mother and little sister after the death of her father, and Tyrell who has lived in the shelter for 3 years with his mum. They become friends, linked by their shared love of classical music. June is a skilled viola player but Tyrell just loves to listen to the music having never had the chance to learn to play an instrument. The title gives a clue to the importance of music and we see how it can be a healing element in people’s lives
The story gives a hopeful look at what it can be like to be homeless and placed in a shelter. With the right help, people can rebuild their lives and move out into society again. The people who work at the shelter include those like Mrs G and Marcus who genuinely care for the people in Huey House and the people and politicians who just see homeless people as a problem to be got rid of as quickly as possible.
I loved this story and the characters in it from the spiky violinist Domenica to the organised Lulu.

June and Tyrell don't know it, but they end up becoming fast friends. This is a bit unusual seeing as they met in a homeless shelter called Huey House.

Tyrell is there because his mother has trouble holding down a job. June is there because her mother has been out of sorts since June's father died, and won't go to work.

Both of them have lost their homes, and thus are in a homeless shelter. The homeless shelter has been there to help people get back on their feet, find jobs, find permanent housing, but the current crop of people in the mayor's office want to make it look as though there war less homeless people, so is trying to move everyone out, it doesn't matter where, or if there is public transit, out you go. This will not work for either June or Tyrell.

Something must be done.

This is a sweet, quick, well written story of what it is like to be in a homeless shelter, and about the bad as well as good times there. The author worked her way through college working in a homeless shelter, and she wrote that she to know many kids, and helped them with their reading, among other things.

Lovable characters that you root for, and want to hug when they are at their lowest.

<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

A Duet for Home
by Karina Yan Glaser
Pub Date 05 Apr 2022 |
Clarion Books (formerly HMH Children's Books), Clarion Books
Children's Fiction



I am reviewing a copy of A Duet For Home through Clarion Books and NetGalley:




June must face the first day at Huey House, without her cherished Viola, as if loosing her home had not been bad enough. She refuses to give up the Viola though, her Dad had saved up his tip money for a year to buy her viola, before the accident.





Tyrell has been at the Huey house for three years and shows June what’s good about living at the Huey House, things like friendship, hot meals and a classical musician next door. Can he and June work together to oppose the government, or will families be forced out of Huey House before they are ready?




I give A Duet For Home five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

Karina Yan Glaser's "A Duet for Home" is a beautifully crafted novel about family and friendships found within the walls of a transitional housing unit called Huey House. The author drew on her experiences as a young woman working with a NYC shelter in the South Bronx to tell this realistic fiction story. The narrator duties are shared in altenating chapters by two extremely compelling characters: June and Tyrell. June has only recently arrived at Huey House with her mother and younger sister. After her father's recent death, June's mother has retreated into silence and depression, leaving June on her own to navigate their new home and help her sister Maybelle. Tyrell has been at Huey House for over 3 years. He and his best friend Jeremiah are like brothers, using their knowledge of every corner of the residence to pull off pranks on a grumpy neighbor and the even meaner center director. Tyrell and June form a friendship that at first is centered around their shared love of classical music. Soon however a new political policy threatens the stability and safety that they, and many others, have found at Huey House. Much As Yan Glaser did in her "Vanderbeekers' series" this story contains a multidimensional portrait of a slice of NYC, combining humor and emotion in a compelling tale which also encourages reflection on big topics such as homelessness, poverty, and social welfare programs. . I highly recommend "A Duet for Home" as an addition to elementary school and middle school libraries and classrooms.