Reviews

Aunt Pearl by Irene Luxbacher, Monica Kulling

alisun's review against another edition

5.0

Marta's Aunt Pearl is houseless and comes to live with Marta's family. Aunth Pearl clearly struggles with mental illness but the book centers on the sweet relationship that develops between Marta and her aunt as they get to know one another. Aunt Pearl becomes withdrawn and, in the end of the book, leaves the house.

The book does a beautiful job of exploring difficult subjects of mental health and homelessness. The end of the book is touching and I love that it ends realistically. I can see this opening up great conversations with children.

radlibrarianmama's review against another edition

3.0

Reading this book made me feel like I had the wind knocked out of me. So heavy. And I have dealt with homelessness in my family and taking my relative in my house, so it hit hard. I think what bothers me the most out of this book isn't there there isn't a resolution, because honestly, in real life, that's unlikely, especially for chronically homeless people. My problem is that the mom never actually talks to the kids about what happened or answers them when her daughter is clearly distressed. It just seems irresponsible to end the book that way, but I guess it leaves it up to the caregivers to discuss it with their kids after reading.

debnanceatreaderbuzz's review

4.0

Aunt Pearl has nowhere to live, and so her sister invites her to live with her family. Pearl brings a grocery cart of her things with her...Pearl is not tidy...Pearl likes to search through the garbage...Pearl and her sister have different ways of doing things and they come into conflict. And one day Pearl is gone.

Aunt Pearl is a story that touches on the difficulties of homelessness as well as the complexity of relationships. It is strikingly true, and its ambiguous ending reflects the realities of life.