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Foster/ Adoptive/ Step-Families
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| Cohn, Rachel |
The Steps
Twelve-year-old Annabel narrates
the complicated story of her much blended family. You see, her
mother and father never married, had her and split amicably.
Her father moved to Australia and met a woman with two children,
married her and are expecting Annabel's half-sibling. Her mother
is contemplating marriage. Annabel is sent to Australia to become
acquainted with her father's family. Are you confused yet? This
breezy, humorous novel is great fun. |
| Creech, Sharon |
Replay
Twelve-year-old Leonardo, the
second of four children in a boisterous Italian-American family
has several nicknames. He goes by Leo, but is also called Sardine
or Sardine-o and occasionally, Fog Boy because he has a tendency
to daydream. In his daydreams, Leo is often the star, the athlete,
the scholar gaining the admiration and attention he doesn't receive
from his family, especially his harried parents.
When he tries out for the school play,
he is disappointed when he finds that he is cast as the "old
crone," but gradually learns to appreciate the play and
the role and becomes friendly with Ruby who was cast as the rear
end of the donkey. He also discovers his father's tap dancing
shoes and journal from when he was thirteen, reads it secretly
and discovers aspects of his father's personality he never knew
about and also the existence of an aunt he never met.
This is a quiet slice-of-life story filled
with realistic and memorable characters and the bittersweet moments
of life in a large extended family.
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| Creech, Sharon |
Ruby Holler
Sharon Creech sure can write!
This story is about orphan twins named Florida and Dallas, also
know as the 'disaster twins' by the exasperated owners of the
orphanage they keep getting sent back to. Florida is the more
cynical of the two, always expecting the worst to happen. Dallas
is the dreamier of the two, always thinking, "maybe not,"
but never leaving Florida's side. They are fostering with an
older couple in Ruby Holler. This is a surprisingly suspenseful
story. |
| Giff, Patricia Reilly |
Pictures of Hollis Woods
I like everything about this
book from its cover to the cool title graphics to the alternating
stories set off from each other with italic print. Hollis Woods
is a 12 year old orphan who has run away from a series of foster
homes. She is placed in the home of an elderly artist and becomes
attached to her, but as the woman becomes increasingly forgetful,
Hollis is fearful that she will be removed from her care and
sent elsewhere. |
| Huser, Glen |
Stitches
Memorable characters populate
this story of gentle Travis. His single-mother is a country-western
singer, often on the road, so he lives in a trailer park with
his aunt Kitaleen, her passel of children and her husband Miserable
Mike. Travis is anxious about making the move from elementary
to junior high school because he sees both the good and bad aspects
of change. He also knows that he is different from other children,
not just because he is less well-off and his strange family,
but because he loves to sew and his best friend is a girl, Chantelle.
Chantelle's family is even stranger than Travis' and she is also
physically disfigured which makes her a target for abuse as well
as Travis. When the pair blossom in junior high, it becomes too
much for Travis' nemesis, Shon, to take and his bullying becomes
increasingly vicious. |
| Tolan, Stephanie |
Surviving the Applewhites (2002 Newberry Honor Book)
Thirteen-year-old Jake Stempl wears black, has hair dyed red
and spiked straight out with gel, more body piercings than anyone
can count and a classic juvenile delinquent attitude. After his
parents were put in prison for growing marijuana, Jake allegedly
burned his school down and then was kicked out of a series of
schools before ending up with his grandfather in rural North
Carolina. He manages to be expelled from school there in record
time and his last hope is the Applewhite home school. The Applewhites
are arty and determined to have their four children grow up to
be free spirits, so they formed a home school. Grandpa Applewhite
is the patriarch and the extended family is rounded out by Archie
Applewhite and his yoga-practicing wife, Lucille. Can Jake survive
the Applewhites? |
| Woodson, Jacqueline |
Locomotion (National Book Award Finalist, 2003 and Printz
Honor Book, 2004)
Lonnie Collins Motion tells his story in this lovely blank verse
novel. His fourth grade teacher encourages him to keep a poetry
journal and to write quickly before the thoughts fly out of his
head. Locomotion is his nickname because he is always moving,
much to the apparent dismay of his foster mother. She is kindly
but elderly and a bit set in her ways. Locomotion is still grieving
the loss of his parents is a house fire four years earlier and
frets over his infrequent visits with his beloved sister who
was placed with another family. |
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Loving Families
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| Bradman, Tony, ed. |
My Dad's a Punk: 12 Stories about Boys and their Fathers
This is a very nice collection of stories which focuses on the various kinds of relationships a boy might have with his father. The authors are all fairly well known YA authors from the U.S., Canada, England and Australia. A few of my favorites were: My Dad's a Punk, the title story by Sean Taylor, Whoosh by Daniel Weitzman, Twenty Crows by one of my favorite YA authors, Ron Koertge, and Handheld by Daniel Ehrenhaft. |
| Couloumbis, Audrey |
Summer's End
This wonderful coming-of-age
story features a thirteen-year-old narrator, her own family and
an amazing extended family who are trying to figure out what
to do about the Vietnam War. The time is 1965 and Grace is turning
thirteen, about to have her first girl-boy party and her older
brother, Collin, decides to burn his draft card. Her father,
a Korean War veteran and Collin's stepfather, kicks him out of
the house and cancels Grace's party. Her parents are arguing
because Grace's mother supports Collin's actions. Collin's father
was killed during the Korean War.
To escape the tension at home, Grace hitches
a ride to her Grandma's farm but she cannot escape the question
of whether her brother is doing the right thing. The large extended
family is gathered at the farm to build a house for Uncle Milford
who is disabled and unable to serve in Vietnam and who is about
to be married. Another uncle is missing in action. Grace's cousin
Thatcher skipped being valedictorian at graduation to flee to
Canada, an action that doesn't sit too well with another cousin,
Dolly's family because her older brother is serving.
The writing is absolutely spare and beautiful.
The characters felt like old friends.
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| Dowell, Frances O'Roark |
Dovey Coe
I loved O'Roark's Chicken Boy so much, I ordered her first book, Dovey Coe to read as soon as I finished Chicken Boy. So far, she is two for two with memorable opening lines- "My name is Dovey Coe, and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn't kill him."
Twelve-year-old Dovey fiercely loves her home in Indian Creek and her family. The story is set in 1928 and while the Coes are fairly poor, they own their own home and are not beholden to the Caraways, who own most of the rest of the town and the grocery store. When Parnell Caraway sets his sights on Caroline, Dovey's beautiful older sister, Dovey can barely contain herself, especially when he hints that when he makes Caroline his wife, he plans on putting her deaf brother, Amos in a home. Dovey is a tomboy who often finds herself in hot water because of her blunt manner. While the ending seemed a bit contrived and stretched credibility, I found Dovey to be a thoroughly engaging, funny character.
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| Frazier, Sundee T. |
Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It
This book explores some complex problems, namely racism and prejudice, through the eyes of Brendan Buckley, a ten-year-old scientist and rock hound. He is training to advance in his Tai Kwon Do studies with his best friend as well as mourning the recent death of his grandfather. He keeps a journal of Important Questions and tries to answer them with the objectivity of a scientist; so when he stumbles upon his "other" grandfather, the one who his mother says is "gone," Brendan has to investigate. Why, for example, if he lives so close, has he never visited his family? When Brendan learns he is president of the local rock hound club, Brendan wonders if he inherited his interest in science from him? Once Brendan decides to go behind his mother's back and visit this grandfather and attend a club meeting, he wonders why his grandfather chose not to introduce Brendan as his grandson. Was it because Brendan's skin is brown and his grandfather's is white? Is that why he and Brendan's mother no longer speak? |
| Holt,
Kimberly Willis |
My Louisiana Sky
Twelve-year-old Tiger Ann Parker
used to love the fact that her mother would play games like hide
and seek with her. Now, she is becoming aware of the stares and
giggles that her mother's childlike antics attract and is very
embarrassed. While most pre-teens are normally embarrassed by
parents, Tiger Ann has an extra reason. Her parents are "slow"
and while most of the town are kind to them, a few are not. Tiger
Ann is "normal" and a very good student. She doesn't
know what she would do without Granny, with whom she also lives.
Granny is the center of the family, the anchor. Loving and stern,
she raised two daughters after her husband died and is now raising
a granddaughter. When her aunt Dorie Kay comes to visit from
Baton Rouge, Tiger Ann secretly wishes that she could escape
the small town of Saitter and live in the big city.
This is a lovely book about family, unconditional
love and coming of age.
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| Lord, Cynthia |
Rules
Twelve-year-old Catherine is watchful and tense. She's constantly on the lookout for signs of trouble that her younger brother, David, might cause. She's alternately fiercely protective of and furious with him because of his behavior. He is autistic and prone to acting out at inopportune moments such as when the new girl moves in next door. While she understands that he can't help the way he is, she resents all the attention he gets from his parents and the fact that she is expected to babysit him very regularly.
She has devised a series of rules for David and these rules serve as chapter headings. Some of them are practical, some hilarious and some reflect Catherine's anxiety.
This book won a 2007 Newbery Honor.
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| Lynch, Chris |
Me, Dead Dad & Alcatraz
Each book I have read by Chris Lynch has made me work hard as a reader. They are different and demanding and all very, very good. I kept feeling as though I was missing something as I read Me, Dead Dad and Alcatraz and found out after I finished the book that Lynch wrote two other books centered around Elvin, although they are meant to stand alone.
Elvin is fifteen, fat, content to hang out with his two best friends and loves his single mother. He has this constant, self-deprecating, inner dialogue with himself which is often laugh-out-loud funny. Early in the book he discovers that the uncle he thought was dead, is in fact, alive and determined to make up for lost time. So Elvin finds his neat little world turned upside down.
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| Mass, Wendy |
A Mango-shaped Space
Thirteen-year-old Mia is good at keeping secrets. She learned when she was in third grade that no one else sees colors associated with letters and sounds and the reactions of her classmates made her feel like a freak. So she has quietly compensated ever since. But now, she is in eighth grade and failing in pre-algebra and Spanish because the colors aren't right. Her baffled parents take her to her pediatrician, who refers her to a therapist, who focuses on her status as a middle child as the root of the problem. Thankfully, she recommends evaluation by a neurologist, who knows exactly what Mia has- a rare hereditary condition known as synethesia.
At the same time, she's having some problems with her best friend, letting some school friends down by not fully participating in a group project and forgetful about her cat, Mango's medication. This is an engaging read that gets quite sad near the end.
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| Padian, Maria |
Brett McCarthy: Work in Progress
The narrator of this first-person novel is Brett McCarthy, self-proclaimed word nerd, jock, best corner kicker in Maine and bff with Diane. Her eighth-grade world is turned upside down one afternoon, when hanger-on third wheel, Jeanne Anne coaxes Brett's clique to do the "phone thing" to resident god, Bob Levesque's mom. It all falls apart and Brett is implicated by Jeanne Anne. Furious, Brett confronts Jeanne Anne at school the next day and when she insults Brett's beloved grandmother, Nonna, Brett punches her in the nose, earning a three day suspension.
Each of the 45 chapters is a word, shown broken down into syllables, defined early in the chapter and related to the events. This book grew on me slowly but by the end, I liked each of the quirky characters and was rooting for Brett, who was slowly learning to deal with the changes in her life and to rein in her big mouth and quick temper.
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| Spinelli, Jerry |
Smiles to Go
Another winner in both cover and story from Mr. Spinelli. Where does he get these ideas from? The characters are so odd, yet familiar and endearing. The dialogue is so sweet and funny. <sigh> I need to read it again; more slowly this time to savor the understated, yet perfect language.
Will Tuppence, scientist, stargazer, skateboarder and chess champ has two best friends, Mi-Su and BT and a pesty little sister named Tabby. Excepting for Tabby, his life is perfect and perfectly orderly. Orderly until the day Mi-Su calls to tell him to listen to the radio and he learns that protons, which he thought were indesctructible, do indeed die. From that moment on, time for Will is measured as PD1, PD2 and so on. PD for Proton Death. Orderly until BT skateboarded down Dead Man's Hill and lived to tell it. Orderly until the night he sees Mi-Su kissing BT. Will needs to understand things and unpredictable or impulsive behavior upsets him. He has taken comfort in the fact that protons live forever and since everything in the universe is made of protons, including himself, then, it stands to reason that a part of him will live forever. Now his whole world view, no universe view is turned upside-down. It doesn't help that the dynamic between himself and his two best friends is changing as well. The only thing that doesn't change is the relentless pestering from Tabby until one day, when he learns just how quickly one's life can change forever.
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| Spinelli, Jerry |
Eggs
This touching story is classic Spinelli served up with one of the best covers I have seen in a year of great book cover art. I never know what to expect from a Spinelli book except to expect to meet and grow to love interesting characters in all their complexity and frailty.
Nine-year-old David has been angry for almost a year, ever since his mother died suddently. He now lives with his grandmother and rarely sees his dad who commutes long distances for his job. His grandmother is oh-so patient and trying so hard to help David, but he will have none of it and constantly disobeys her. He meets thirteen-year-old Primrose in a way that is both hysterical and horrifying and utterly impossible to describe and still do justice to.
Primrose is equally obnoxious. She despises her oddball mother, longs for her long-gone father and has adopted Refrigerator John as a surrogate parent. Their unlikely friendship is not an easy one and Refrigerator John is often uncertain about what is best for them.
This small, complex novel sets the bar high for its readers. I wondered more than once as I read who the audience might be and whether they would get it. But I try not to underestimate young readers and he has a legion of fans at my school who know they are in for a treat when a new Spinelli book comes out.
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| Weeks, Sarah |
So B. It
While the plot relies on contrivance
and convenience, I really grew to like the intriguing characters.
Be warned to have tissues handy near the end.
Twelve-year-old Heidi has an unusual story
of luck. She was discovered by her neighbor Bernadette when her
soaked and disabled mother knocked on Bernadette's door with
a week old Heidi, equally soaked and squalling with hunger and
a can of formula that needed to be opened. Bernadette helped
her neighbor and then worried about them but couldn't call on
them to check because she is incapacitated by agoraphobia and
can't leave her apartment. Once she discovers a hidden door connecting
the two apartments, she sets about taking care of So B. It and
her daughter, Heidi.
While Heidi is happy to be home schooled
by Bernadette and loves her mother fiercely, she longs to know
of her history and sets about following the few clues she has
to journey across the country alone on a bus to discover her
family.
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Dysfunctional Families
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| Danziger, Paula |
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
Every so often, I try to take a break from trying to keep up with the thousands of new titles which are published for children each year and return to reading or rereading "the classics." The Cat Ate My Gymsuit was published in 1974. A classic, by definition, is a title that is greater than 25 years old and should have a timeless quality that enables it to be enjoyed by new readers without feeling dated. Charlotte's Web is a good example. Even though this book has been around for over 30 years, is still available with a new cover at large book stores and was made into a full-cast audio book, which I listened to; I didn't like it. I understand, now, why it rarely circulates at our library. Paula Danziger was a force in children's literature. Her books, P.S. Longer Letter Later and Snail Mail No More continue to circulate as do her Amber Brown books. I found myself wincing and cringing as I listened to the tale of ninth grader, Marcey Lewis. |
| Day, Karen |
Tall Tales
Meg Summers is entering sixth grade in yet another school as her family moves so that her father can get a fresh start. He is an alcoholic who will not attend AA meetings and expects his family to keep family problems within the family. So neither Meg nor her brother or sister ever have friends over and they maintain a watchful vigil, continually assessing their father's moods and waiting for him to begin drinking again.
To combat loneliness and the pain of starting all over in a new school, Meg, who wants to be a writer and has a very active imagination tells outlandish lies about herself and her family when all she wants is a friend.
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| Dowell, Frances O'Roark |
Chicken Boy
"You might have heard about the time my granny got arrested on the first day of school." This is the memorable first line of a touchingly sweet story. Tobin McCauley starts seventh grade with the arrest of his granny who in the rush to get him to school on time took a shortcut up a sidewalk. Tobin keeps pretty much to himself and will admit that he isn't the best student. He's the youngest of four children and in the five years since his mother died, his family has pretty much fallen apart. His only close relationship is with his grandmother who doesn't see eye-to-eye with his father and who blames him for her daughter's death from cancer.
When the new kid, Henry Otis sticks up for Tobin in a fight and wants to begin a friendship, Tobin is grateful, but isn't looking for a friend. Henry persists and the two bond. The characters are just wonderful; Tobin, Henry, Granny and Tobin's father are complex, flawed human beings. It is laugh-out-loud funny at times, but keep a box of tissues handy.
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| Doyle, Malachy |
Who is Jesse Flood?
I just didn't get this one.
The story is told mostly in the first person by fourteen and
a half year old Jesse Flood who is different and wondering about
things such as why his parents ever married (they fight and his
mum left), girls, schooling and friends. The story shifts back
to Jesse at earlier ages and in two chapters into the second
person. |
| Easton, Kelly |
The Life History of
a Star
This journal style novel is
narrated by fourteen-year-old Kristin who feels betrayed by her
body, her best friends and her family. Her body is changing in
ways she never dreamed possible, her flowing hormones make her
moods unpredictable, her best girlfriend has become boy obsessed,
her best guy friend has become obsessed with her, her mother
wants her to be a girlie-girl and she is haunted by "the
ghost." Against the backdrop of Watergate, the Vietnam War,
David Bowie, and Patty Hearst Kristin comes of age, Kristin uses
humor and sarcasm to hide her fears in this highly readable sad-sweet
story. |
| Gantos, Jack |
Jack Adrift: Fourth
Grade Without a Clue
Jack Henry is back. Fans of
Jack on the Tracks should enjoy this prequel of sorts. Jack's
father is moving the family again. This time, they are heading
to Cape Hatteras for a Navy job. The Henry family lives in a
tinny trailer located in a swamp. His high point is having a
beautiful teacher. He falls instantly in love and is unable to
learn a thing. His low point is his principal; she appoints him
gum spy. Along the way, Jack gets into all sorts of mischief
and mayhem. |
| Gantos, Jack |
Jack on the Tracks:
Seasons of Fifth Grade
Jack and his family are trying for a fresh start in Miami, Florida.
They move close to some railroad tracks and next door to a family
who is willing to supply Jack with what seems to be an endless
supply of cats. This book is laugh-out-loud funny. |
| Prosek, James |
The Day My Mother Left
Ten-year-old Jeremy feels especially close to his mother and so he is devastated when she decides to leave the family but doubly so when she does so without saying goodbye and leaving with the father of his enemy, Evan. On top of everything, she took his sketchbook with her! It was filled with Jeremy's drawings of birds and other nature observations. When he decides to replace the sketchbook by drawing new pictures, he begins to heal somewhat. He also takes refuge at the home of his best friend and spends a great deal of time with a beloved uncle.
Jeremy narrates his story and the beginning of each chapter contains a delicately drawn bird. The striking cover art, which features two birds that appear to have been drawn by a child, was, in fact, drawn by the author at roughly Jeremy's age. And we learn from the cover that the author was roughly Jeremy's age when his mother left him.
There is much to like about this book, the writing is spare and nature (his refuge) is beautifully described.
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| Schmidt, Gary D. |
Trouble
Henry Smith, child of wealth and privilege has lived a life insulated from Trouble. He lives in a 300+ year old house overlooking Salvage Cove in Massachusetts and attends an exclusive prep school with his two older siblings.
When golden boy older brother Franklin is critically injured after being hit by a truck, it seems that Trouble has found the Smiths. A classmate of Franklin's, who is a scholarship student and Cambodian refugee, accepts responsibility for the accident. He is arrested and put on trial, but let off on a technicality to which the town responds with indignation and hate crimes committed against the Cambodian community.
All is not as it seems however and as Henry copes with his parents' disintegration, his sister's withdrawal, the adoption of a dog he saved from drowning and the eventual death of his brother, he begins to get at the Truth.
This is multilayered, complex story of class, assumptions, entitlement and family love and responsibility.
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| Simmons, Michael |
Pool Boy
Brett Gershon is a spoiled
brat, a very rich spoiled brat. His father gets thrown in jail
for insider trading and Brett's family loses everything. Brett
has to move to the wrong side of the tracks and, horrors, get
a job! He hates his father and hates his new job flipping burgers.
After he quits/ gets fired from that job, he gets a job with
Alfie cleaning pools. Unfortunately, he has to clean the pool
at the house in which he used to live. Life is very different
for Brett who blames his father for every bad thing that happens
to him. Interesting book about an obnoxious brat. |
| Stuaffacher,
Sue |
Harry Sue
I loved this book. Harry Sue
is a character who will stay with me for a long time. She isn't
the only memorable character in this book, however. Harry Sue's
best friend is Homer Price, which is his nick, not his real name.
Harry Sue, short for Harriet Susan, is a sixth-grader who refers
to the reader as "fish," prison slang for a new prisoner.
There are also the "crumb snatchers," or toddlers who
are in the unlucky clutches of Harry's Granny's day care center.
She tries not to care for them, but what with Granny dosing them
with Benadryl to keep them quiet and terrorizing them in ways
that don't leave bruises, Harry Sue feels it's her duty to protect
them as best she can.
This book will make you laugh but your
heart is made of stone if you can manage to read the last third
of the book without crying. The prison lingo was a bit difficult
to handle at first, but Harry Sue's Joint Jive Glossary
was a big help. This book should not be ignored at Newbery time.
|
| Trueman, Terry |
Stuck in Neutral
First time author, Terry Trueman won a Printiz Honor for this slim but difficult book. This book is told in the first-person voice of a thirteen-year-old boy who is afflicted with Cerebral Palsy so badly that he is confined to a wheelchair, has multiple seizures daily, and can't communicate with his family that he is alive and thinking and extremely aware of his surroundings. He is quite funny in his observations through most of the book, but he thinks that his father is planning a mercy-killing- his and he is terrified. |
| Trueman, Terry |
Cruise Control
Sixteen-year-old Paul McDaniel is one angry young man and he is the first to admit that his temper just might land him in hot water. He is furious with his father for leaving the family because he couldn't cope with "the veg," his younger Shawn, who is wheelchair bound with Cerebral Palsy. He is furious with the world for treating his brother with contempt and and condescension. He is furious with his brother for being born that way. But mostly, he is furious with himself for hating his brother but feeling an obligation to remain close to home for college in order to help his mom out. This book is a companion to Stuck in Neutral. |
| Weatherly, Lee |
Child X
This novel is imported from
Great Britain without any editing, which means that we need to
take a little time to figure out exactly what is meant by "maths"
and "stonking" and the play "Northern Lights,"
which is what the book we know of as The Golden Compass
is called in the UK. It is the story of Jules, a happy 14-year-old
budding actress whose life is turned upside down when her father
abruptly leaves after a fight with her mother. Good read. |
| Wilson, Jacqueline |
The Illustrated Mum
Who else but Jacqueline Wilson
can tackle the problem of mental illness and its effects on a
family? This book is not for everyone. Ten-year-old Dolphin tells
us the story of her and her sister Star's attempts to care for
their increasingly unstable mother, Marigold. In Dolphin's eyes,
Marigold is beautiful and unique, covered in tattoos, tottering
around in high heels, dressing in unusual ways. To everyone else,
Marigold is trash and neglecting her family while refusing to
seek treatment for her manic-depression and going on benders.
Thirteen-year-old Star is angry and tired
of being a parent to her mother, so when her long-absent father
who didn't even know she existed, pops back into the picture,
Star is more than happy to begin a new life with him, away from
the insanity. Dolphin is invited as well, but she feels a fierce
loyalty to her mother as well as like a third wheel since Star's
father is not her father. She has never been told who her father
is. This searing glimpse into a rather messy, grim life is leavened
with humor and made believable by well crafted characters.
|
| Wolfson, Jill |
What I Call Life
Eleven-year-old Cal is used to taking care of her mother and what she calls her mother's "episodes." She has adjusted to her unpredictable and nomadic life quite well, in her opinion. But when her mother has a psychotic episode in the public library and Cal finds herself placed in a group home with four other ten and eleven-year-old girls and an elderly foster mother called The Knitting Lady, Cal finds her defenses sorely tested. Each of the girls is damaged in some way and The Kntting Lady helps them cope by telling stories and teaching them to knit.
I wanted to like this book more than I do. It has a lot going for it, but it didn't hang well together for me and Cal seemed much older than eleven to me.
|
| Van Draanen, Wendelin |
Swear to Howdy
The beginning of this book
is quite funny, but then the story turns tragic. Joey and Rusty
become best friends when Rusty moves next door to Joey the summer
before they go to middle school. Joey is always good for an adventure
or prank or two and sometimes things don't always work out the
way it is planned, so they "swear to howdy" and form
blood pacts of secrecy which they will keep to their graves.
When does a secret become too terrible to keep? |
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