Felix’s deeply engrossing and fully immersive first-person narrative of homelessness is both illuminating and heartbreaking. When Felix is selected to appear on a quiz show, it seems as if it could offer a resolution for their troubles: Winning would earn him a $25,000 prize. Sadly, they have little idea of his truly dire situation since he’s so resourceful at hiding his problems in order to stave off the MCFD. But Felix has two great friends, Winnie, who is Asian, and Dylan, who is white they will watch his back whatever comes. As depicted with gritty realism, the pair has been living in a van for months, using public restrooms, and rarely having enough to eat. Astrid will do what she needs to, including artfully lying and stealing, to keep their heads-barely-above water as they descend into homelessness. His flighty mother, Astrid (she’s the Swedish part), is both depressed and chronically under- or often unemployed. But things don't turn out the way he expects.For 12-year-old, “fifty percent Swedish, twenty-five percent Haitian, twenty-five percent French” Felix, all of his scary stories are about the Ministry of Children and Family Development-the Canadian agency that has the power to take him from his mom and place him in foster care. Winning the cash prize could make everything okay again. If he does, she warns him, he'll be taken away from her and put in foster care.Īs their circumstances go from bad to worse, Felix gets a chance to audition for a junior edition of Who What Where When, and he's determined to earn a spot on the show. Astrid swears him to secrecy he can't tell anyone about their living arrangement, not even Dylan and Winnie, his best friends at his new school.
So when they get evicted from their latest shabby apartment, they have to move into a van. Felix's mom, Astrid, is loving but can't seem to hold on to a job.
His favourite game show is Who What Where When he even named his gerbil after the host. Twelve-and-three-quarter-year-old Felix Knutsson has a knack for trivia.
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