No Fixed Address

By: Susin Nielsen

Narrated by: Nissae Isen

Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

From beloved Governor General Literary Award-winning author Susin Nielsen comes a touching and funny middle-grade story about family, friendship and growing up when you're one step away from homelessness.

Felix Knuttson, 12, is an endearing kid with an incredible brain for trivia. His mom Astrid is loving but unreliable; she can't hold onto a job, or a home. When they lose their apartment in Vancouver, they move into a camper van, just for August, till Astrid finds a job. September comes, they're still in the van; Felix must keep "home" a secret and give a fake address in order to enroll in school. Luckily, he finds true friends.

As the weeks pass and life becomes grim, he struggles not to let anyone know how precarious his situation is. When he gets to compete on a national quiz show, Felix is determined to win - the cash prize will bring them a home. Their luck is about to change! But what happens is not at all what Felix expected.

©2018 Susin Nielsen (P)2018 Tundra Books

Critic reviews

2019, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, Long-listed

2019, Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award, Long-listed

2019, Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award, Nominated

2019, National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Award, Short-listed

2019, National Chapter IODE Violet Downey Award, Winner

2019, Red Cedar Book Award, Short-listed

2019, Snow Willow Award, Short-listed

2019, Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children’s Book Awards, Short-listed

2019, Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize, Winner

2020, Red Maple Award, Winner

2020, Rocky Mountain Book Award, Winner

2020, Hackmatack Children’s Choice Book Award, Short-listed

2020, Chocolate Lily Award, Winner

"Nielsen uses great writing, terrific characters, humor, and heartbreak to keep readers turning pages. This book deserves readership well beyond her intended middle-grade audience." (San Francisco Book Review)

“It is not often that a novel can provide such a great mix of memorable characters and pertinent, timely themes mixed with a good story and dashes of humour.” (CM Magazine)

Great story- well written!

It’s such a heartfelt story. Many people have had this experience I think and it’s a great reminder to never judge a book by its cover…not this book, but people in general.

Perspective

Strong characters and voice make this story memorably. The perspective of the main character is raw and believable. Great topic for family discussion.

Great story

I throughly enjoyed this story. it certainly has several real life parts to it that made me a tis bit nervous about letting students read it, but they aren't over the top and they are true to life. Tough story, but not too tough.

Awesome book!

This was a book that I surprisingly enjoyed quite a bit! I’m in sixth grade and have just turned twelve years old and was asked to read it for a project and I am happy to say that it was an amazing story! There were some themes that I wouldn’t recommend for younger kids, even though I am not that old myself so I guess it’s more of a maturity thing when it comes to some of the themes in the book but other than that I have no complaints

For an older teen and up

This book was helpful insight into the world of homeless through the eyes of a 13 year old. But my 5th grader (10 year old) was asked to read it for school. In my opinion, it introduces and implies themes that are way too advanced for a 5th grade reader—-the trials of homelessness itself were portrayed so well, however it was other themes or introduced that I would rather my 10 year not know about yet. And because of the homelessness, there was a constant low level (and sometimes high level) anxiety throughout the book. Good for older teens, not younger.