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The House on Dirty-Third Street
“Mom said starting over would be an adventure, so I imagined a tropical island with palm trees and buried treasure. Not this.” The house her mom has bought is on a block in such bad shape that the child narrator of this story calls it “Dirty-Third Street” instead of Thirty-Third Street. And their place is the worst, not only run down, but full of trash and old furniture. Still, it’s all they can afford. The job of cleaning and fixing it up is huge, and the neighbors initially seem more guarded than friendly. After a Saturday of hard, heavy work that seems to get them nowhere, the girl’s mom is dejected. The next day, when they visit a nearby church, the girl shares their story with the Sunday School class. Within hours, people begin arriving to help them work in Jo S. Kittinger’s authentic, feel-good story that features a strong, realistic mother-daughter duo at its core. ©2012 Cooperative Children’s Book Center
Illustrated by Thomas Gonzalez
CCBC Age Recommendation: Ages 6-9
Age Range:
PreK-Early Elementary (Ages 4-7)
Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-10)
Format:
Picture book
Subjects:
Community
Economic Hardship and Poverty
Empathy and Compassion
Mothers
Work and Labor
Publisher:
Peachtree
Publish Year: 2012
Pages: 32
ISBN: 9781561456192
CCBC Location: Picture Book, Kittinger