Writings about poverty and hunger expand quickly these days. Scholars, politicians, media personalities and advocates of all stripes are busily writing down their thoughts, citing statistics and recalling anecdotes to support their views. Below are references that our staff finds useful. Please add your own and share with us!

Compiled by the staffs of the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Fayette County Public Library

NON-FICTION - Adult

• Blackside, Inc. America's New War on Poverty. 1995. A companion reader to the recent PBS series about the War on Poverty, this compilation of essays and excerpts speaks about the many facets of poverty in America, citing numerous illuminating facts and statistics, as well as some methodologies for addressing these issues.
• Coles, Robert. The Call of Service: A Witness to Idealism. 1993. Coles interviews fascinating people who have dedicated time and energy in service to their communities.
• Edelman, Marian Wright. Families in Peril: An Agenda for Social Change. 1987. Based on Edelman's 1986 W.E.B. Dubois Lectures, this book gives an eloquently argued case for a broad national agenda to fight childhood poverty. (Edelman is the executive director of the Children's Defense Fund.)
• Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Making it in America. 2001. This book gives us a compelling look at the challenges of being a part or America's growing working poor. Ehrenreich takes a year out of her freelance life to try making it in the low wage work force.
• Jones, Jacqueline. The Dispossessed: America's Underclasses from the Civil War to the Present. 1992. A well-written account of the historical roots of the underclass, following the development of the 19th century Southern poor, both black and white.
• Katz, Michael. In the Shadow of the Poorhouse: A Social History of Welfare in America. Describes how poverty existed and was dealt with by government and private groups throughout American history, from the colonial period to the present.
• Katz, Michael. The Undeserving Poor: From the War on Poverty to the War on Welfare. 1989. Focusing on the last three decades, Katz's historical analysis follows the course of debate over issues of hunger and poverty in America referring to the differential treatment given to the "deserving' and "undeserving" poor.
• Kotlowitz, Alex. There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. 1991. A powerful personal account of the lives of two families in the Chicago ghetto.
• Kozol, Jonathan. Rachel and Her Children, Homeless Families in America. 1989. A deeply personal analysis of homelessness, which centers on the travails of one homeless family.
• Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. 1991. Through a strong personal account, Kozol outlines the inequalities in school expenditures and facilities between poor and rich children in America.
• Lappe, Frances Moore and Collins, Joseph and Rosset, Peter. World Hunger: Twelve Myths. 1998. Addresses the myths about hunger and poverty that keep us from adequately approaching and addressing the problem.
• LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. 2003. LeBlanc provides a profoundly intimate portrait of a teenager, her family and a community in the Bronx throughout the 90's. It illuminates the complicated and many layered challenge of poverty. "The lives of teenagers are demonized in the same way that those of children are sentimentalized. When these lives unfold in places exhausted by poverty and its related burdens, the texture of their real experiences is obscured." Adrian LeBlanc.
• Marmour, Theodore R. and Jerry L. Mashaw and Phillip L. Harvey. America's Misunderstood Welfare State: Persistent Myths, Enduring Realities. 1990. In separate chapters, analyzes the myths of the American system.
• Newman, Katherine. No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City. 2000. Katherine Newman explores the explosion of working poverty in urban America.
• Phillips, Kevin. Wealth and Democracy. 2002. A social criticism and economic history of plutocracy, excess and reform.
• Russell, Sharman Apt. Hunger: An Unnatural History. 2005. Analyzes the psychological and physical consequences of food deprivation and semi-starvation, discussing topics ranging from hunger strikes and religious fasts to cannibalism and anorexia nervosa.
• Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. 2001."Schlosser documents the effects of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such as meatpacking, that serve this vast food production empire."
• Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. 2004. An informed and impassioned portrayal and analysis of the plight of the surprisingly diverse and numerous Americans who work, but still walk the official poverty line. Poverty is shown to be a "collection of difficulties that magnify one another."
• Sider, Ronald J. Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity. 1997. Explores Biblical perspectives on the poor and possessions, the causes of poverty, and strategies for implementing solutions to the poverty problem. Emphasizes personal lifestyle choices, building communities of caring within churches, and the need for structural change and greater social justice.
• West, Cornel. Race Matters. 1993. A collection of valuable essays from one of our principal social critics. West allows his readers to see race as a lens through which Americans view life.

FICTION- Adults

• Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina. A well-written and deeply engaging story of a young girl growing up in poverty during the 1950's and 60's.
• Arnow, Harriet. The Dollmaker. An enormously popular novel from the late 1940s, The Dollmaker is the dramatic story of an Appalachian family's move from the mountains of Kentucky to wartime Detroit.
• Baldwin, James. Another Country. A genius of American fiction, this is one of Baldwin's most eloquent statements about the intersection of race and class.
• Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. A classic novel about the manner in which we refuse to see each other and the effects this has on our lives.
• Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. Lends insight into life on and off Native American reservations.
• Grimsley, Jim. My Drowning. An evocative, uncompromising account of a hardscrabble childhood in rural North Carolina in the 1940s.
• Islas, Arthur. Migrant Souls. A tale of the conflicts of a Chicano family in south Texas.
• Morgan, Robert. Gap Creek: A Story of a Marriage. A view of life at the turn of the century and the strength and grit required to gather, make and prepare food and the utter dependence upon nature.
• Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Beloved. Jazz. Any work by Morrison speaks to the soul of our nation's character, dealing with the issues of race, class, and gender, as well as the basic struggles of human existence.
• Mukherjee, Bharati. The Middleman. A National Book Critics Circle award winner about recent immigrants' struggle to survive in the United States.

CHILDREN and YOUTH FICTION

• Armstrong, William and Barkley, James. Sounder. This is the story of an African American sharecropper family in the late 19th century south.
• Carey, Janet Lee. The Double Life of Zoe Flynn. 2004. When Zoe's family has to live in their van for months after moving from California to Oregon so her father can find work, Zoe tries to keep her sixth-grade classmates from discovering that she is homeless.
• Carlson, Nancy; Williams, Garth. The Family Under the Bridge. Originally, 1958. Reissued, 1989. The story of a hobo named Armand who live in Paris under a bridge. He suddenly finds himself helping care for a newly homeless family. ( Ages 9-11, great for family reading.)
• Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. 1999. The story of Bud Caldwell, a ten-year-old boy on his own, on a journey to find his unknown father in depression era Michigan
• Fenner, Carol. The King of Dragons. 1998. Eleven-year-old Ian and his troubled Vietnam-vet father have been living on the streets by day and sleeping in a deserted courthouse by night. Now, though, the weather is getting cooler, food is becoming scant, and Ian's father has disappeared.
• Flake, Sharon. Money Hungry. 2001. All thirteen-year-old Raspberry can think of is making money so that she and her mother never have to worry about living on the streets again.
• Fleischman, Paul. Seedfolks. 1997. Thirteen very different voices- old, young, Haitian, Hispanic, tough, haunted, and hopeful tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.
• Greenwald, Shelia. My Fabulous New Life. 1993. An 11-year-old girl adjusts to new neighborhood in Manhattan. (For middle school students.)
• Haworth-Attard, Barbara. Theories of Relativity. 2005. When his volatile mother throws him out of the house, sixteen-year-old Dylan is forced to live on the streets and beg for money, yet through it all, he finds a way to survive.
• Mathis, Sharon Bell. Sidewalk Story. 1986. The story of a young girl who comes to the aid of a friend and her family being evicted from an apartment across the street. Her compassion causes others to sit up and take notice. This is a wonderful introduction to advocacy.
• McDonald, Janet. Chill Wind. 2002. Afraid that she will have no where to go when her welfare checks are stopped, nineteen-year-old high school dropout Aisha tries to figure out how she can support herself and her two young children in New York City.
• Neufield, John. Almost a Hero. 1995. Young boy in Santa Barbara does community service assignment at a childcare center for homeless children.
• O'Connor, Barbara. How to Steal a Dog. 2007. Living in the family car in their small North Carolina town after their father leaves them virtually penniless, Georgina and her younger brother concoct an elaborate scheme to get money by stealing a dog and then claiming the reward.
• Strasser, Todd. Can't Get There from Here. 2004. Tired of being hungry, cold, and dirty from living on the streets of New York City with a tribe of other homeless teenagers who are dying, one by one, a girl named Maybe ponders her future and longs for someone to care about her.
• Voigt, Cynthia. Homecoming. 1981. Abandoned by their mother, four children begin to search for a home and an identity.
• Wilder, Laura Ingalls. The Long Winter. 1940. During an already hard winter, a terrible storm keeps trains from getting through with food/supplies.

STORIES FOR THE YOUNG CHILD

• Bunting, Eve. Fly Away Home. 1991. A tender story about a boy and his father who live in the airport. This is a good story to introduce children to the issues of homelessness.
• McGovern, Ann. The Lady in the Box. 1997. Two young children aid an elderly homeless woman and in doing so, become her friend. This story is a wonderful way to introduce children to the issue of homelessness and also ways they can be of service in community.
• DiSalvo-Ryan, Dyanne. Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen. 1991. The story of a young boys introduction to work in a community kitchen. He learns from his Uncle Willie about how to help and support those living in poverty in his community.
• Brown, Marcia. Stone Soup. 1947. Based on an old French tale, this story is about three hungry soldiers who out wit the inhabitants of a village into sharing their food for a feast.
• Cooper, Melrose. Gettin' Through Thursday. 1998. A young boy in a family that is just making it paycheck to paycheck feels the richness of family love.

FILMS That ADDRESS POVERTY AND HUNGER

• 30 Days on Minimum Wage - 2005. Created by Morgan Spurlock, 30 Days is the innovative TV show that dares you to take a walk in someone else's shoes. In the season opener, Spurlock and his fiancé try to make ends meet by working minimum-wage jobs.
• Meaning of Food - 2004. PBS. Directors, Karin Williams, Vivian Kleiman, Maria Gargiulo, and Kris Kristensen. A documentary that explores the meaning of food in our lives. Not Rated
• Hidden in America - A Citadel/As Is Production in association with The End Hunger Network. A father of two is downsized out of his job, struggles to support his children alone in a new city. Rated for All
• In America - 2002. Director, Jim Sheridan. From Academy Award Nominee Jim Sheridan comes this deeply personal and poignant tale of a poor Irish family searching for a better life In America. PG 13.
• The Dollmaker - 1984. Director, Daniel Petrie. A mountain family from Kentucky moves to Detroit during WWll towards the promise of work, a steady paycheck and food on the table. Not rated.
• Sounder - 2003. Director, Kevin Hooks. An African American family in the Depression suffers when the father is arrested for stealing a ham. The punishment? Five years, hard labor. PG.