In all of the books that I have read, including for college, very few of them had the power to impact me the way this book did. Criminal of Poverty was written by Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, who did an exceptional job. This is an amazing story that sheds light on a subject that many people would rather simply ignore and forget: homelessness and poverty. This book opens our minds to the fact that not all people living in the streets are drug addicts or lazy alcoholics. The book also clears up the assumption that everybody chooses that lifestyle.

Criminal of Poverty is an extraordinary book that teaches a variety of lessons as to why and how people end up homeless. Domestic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse, and rejection, to name a few, all play a role in many folks’ ending up living on the streets. One clear example is Helen Jo: the grandmother of Tiny. After constantly being abused by a drunken husband, she did what she felt was needed to get away from him—even though she had to leave her three children behind with him.

This very same violence is one reason why so many women and children end up in shelters or out on the streets today.

Family is a very important safety net in anyone’s life. Without family, it is almost impossible for a person to grow up with discipline, love, self-esteem, and the character needed to be the best person that they can in the world. In Criminal of Poverty, Mary Jo, or “Dee,” Tiny’s mother, is a wonderful example of how the lack of a family coupled with abuse in its various forms, along with malnutrition, can leave a person unhappy and unhealthy—physically, mentally, and to a degree socially. Very often, we fail to realize that the behavior we display as adults is a direct result of what happened to us as children.

Criminal of Poverty shows us how people who are not drug addicts and alcoholics struggle to overcome the stereotypes, hatred, and social as well as judicial prejudice determined to undermine their every endeavor at a decent livelihood. Through it all, however, Tiny and Dee managed to remain together and forge a new life—not because they had all of the answers, but because there were instances in their lives where some key people stepped in and gave them a chance when so many doors appeared to be closed.

Tiny has done a tremendous job in telling this story. She is a very courageous woman who actually lived this amazing story of triumph and overcoming. Not many people born into middle- and upper-class families have the ability or drive to accomplish as much as she has. She is also the founder of POOR Magazine and the Poor News Network.

The struggle for survival in an animalistic world trying to pass itself off as civilized shows that all of us have the capacity to be successful in life, given the opportunity, encouragement, and resources to achieve our dreams. I strongly recommend this book to anyone looking for that extra push to give it all they’ve got in order to be successful in life. This is a must-read!

Duran

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