The emotional cost of housing insecurity
Review of "Old Blue Is My Home" by Lita Judge.
Old Blue is my Home
Lita Judge
Abrams Books for Young Readers
2025
Based on the childhood experiences of author and illustrator Lita Judge, this poignant, exquisitely illustrated children’s picture book gives young readers a window into housing insecurity and how it impacts families.
Old Blue, a dated van, serves as the home of a girl and her sister, their parents, a dog and a cat. Life on the road in Old Blue seems adventurous and fun. After all, the family and their pets spend time together, travelling through towns to the mountains and to distant places where they can make campfires, sit under the stars and share hot meals before crawling into Old Blue to sleep.
Old Blue’s interior is cleverly designed to hold everything the family needs: beds, hammocks for clothes and books, a camp stove and table for setting up in an outdoor kitchen, an ax and tools, extra water and wood for campfires.
Despite all that is good and beautiful about living in Old Blue, the girl struggles: “sometimes living in Old Blue makes me feel like I’m from everywhere and belong nowhere. Especially when I go to school. Some kids point and laugh at Old Blue. And because they don’t understand, they point and laugh at me too. They invite each other to their homes to play. No one wants to play in Old Blue.” The girl’s mother sees that she is sad and offers comfort, so the girl understands that “the world has a place for me too.”
In an author’s note, Lita Judge writes, “This story is inspired by my family’s own experience. We lived a nomadic existence in Alaska, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, California and Wisconsin. Although we had a series of traditional homes, they were always temporary. Frequent moves and my father’s work in remote areas led to housing insecurity. . . . This experience gave me a rich relationship with nature that I have carried throughout my life. But it also came at a cost. I grew up with feelings of anxiety and isolation, never truly belonging to a community. As a result, I created my own community with make-believe friends, and I fostered my imagination, where I could escape and seek comfort. Eventually this seeded my desire to build real connections with people through writing and illustrating.”
The book, which includes a brief explanation of housing insecurity, could be an age-sensitive avenue for adults to talk with children about kids who don’t have the blessing of stable, safe and dependable housing.
