Life of the Mind - 2009 Selection
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
The Author and her Book
YouTube interview with Jeannette Walls In this two part interview the author discusses poverty and her family, Walls reveals some of the misconceptions about being poor and her fear regarding telling people how she grew up.
Power within Conference The author shares insight about how to be empowered regardless of your background.
Interview with Beet Street News Walls talks about poverty, her alcoholic parents and the process of writing about and confronting the pain of her childhood.
Conversations with Famous Writers Cindy Bokma interviewed Jeannette Walls on her blog Conversations with Great Writers about The Glass Castle. The author discusses what her work can teach people and talks about her book becoming a movie.
Book Browse This is a list of questions a book club can use to explore the social issues in The Glass Castle.
The Issues
Poverty, Mental illness and Alcoholism
Poverty in Virginia
Poverty in Virginia An overview of poverty in Virginia.
US Census on Poverty Information from the United States Census about the number of Americans who live in poverty.
National Poverty Links
The Heritage Foundation Leadership for Americas The Heritage Foundation outlines poverty issues in the United States, this article explains what poverty means in America and how poor is Americas' poor.
The White House What does the President plan to do about poverty?
National Public Radio NPR explores solutions to poverty in a series of radio programs. These programs grapple with issues such as a livable wage, spirituality, marriage and education.
Campaigns to Fight Poverty
The New York Times In this article Tina Rosenburg list eight programs to help foster economic growth in poor communities.
One.org This an international organization dedicated to ending poverty globally, check out the work they are doing!
The Care Organization This international humanitarian organization is dedicated to stamping out global poverty.
United Nations
United Nations Development Programme for Poverty Reduction What does the UN plan to do about global poverty, peruse this link!
United Nations Development Poverty Statistics In this article the UN documents international poverty statistics.
Homeless Families
National Alliance to End Homelessness The Alliance explores issues of homelessness as it relates to families, veterans, youth and chronically and mentally ill populations.
The Future of Children This Princeton-Brookings Institute site provides research articles about homelessness. These articles can be can be downloaded, they explain the trends of homelessness, the length of time families are homeless and how the census tracks homeless populations.
The National Center on Family Homelessness This site explains what family homelessness means, the percentage of families who are homeless in the United States and provides literature about hunger, shelters and child welfare services. Donate to the campaign to end child homelessness and read President Obama's comments about the child homelessness report.
Alcoholic Parents
Kids Health Site This site outlines skills to help children cope with alcoholic parent. Authors explain what alcoholism is, elaborate on the type of emotional and mental issues children face and gives an overview of what young adults can do to help their parents.
American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry This organization list and explains psychiatric issues that children of alcoholic parents face.
All About Life Challenges This link provides information to young adults to assist them in developing skills to deal with alcoholic parents.
Mental Illness and Parenting
National Mental Health Information Center The United States Department of Health's Human Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration presents information about personal problems and social issues that children of mentally ill parents face throughout their lives.
Mental Health America Mental health America explains how mental health issues can effective families and children. They offer insight about programs, family planning and the recovery process.
Mental Health Association of East Tennessee This website shares information intended to educate people about mental health. It provides insight about disabilities, depression, suicide, substance abuse and mental illness in families.
What You Can Do!
Second Harvest Donate food or volunteer at your local food bank.
Tennessee Charities Here is a list of nonprofit organizations that help children and indigent populations.
