One in six children in Canada lives in poverty. These children go to school hungry, in clothes that aren’t warm enough for northern winters. They get sick more often than other children. They are more likely to drop out of school and end up in a low–paying job, out of work or on the street. In A Child Is Not a Toy , Sheila Baxter provides a voice for adults who had been poor as children, and social workers, teachers and others who work with young people. In search for solutions to these problems, Baxter looks at the federal government’s new support programs and the provincial welfare programs for families with children, at community street workers and drop– in centres, and at the needs of children who are poor.