foster care

Blood Family by Anne Fine

| Tasha

Blood Family by Anne Fine

Blood Family by Anne Fine (9781481477734, Amazon)

At age seven, Edward was saved from his abusive stepfather, Harris, when a neighbor saw him peeking out of their apartment through a boarded-up window. He had been shut in with his mother for three years, unable to leave. The only glimpse of the real world that he had was through a series of videotapes that the previous resident had left behind. Thanks to those videos, he was able to learn about the world and mentally escape the horror of his life. After he is rescued, Edward struggles to adapt to real life. He is smart and fascinated by everything, but his peers realize how different he is. When Edward becomes a teenager, he is suddenly confronted by the idea that Harris might be his real father after all. Is there a monster waiting inside him to break free?

Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, this novel is heartrendingly realistic.  The book is told in many voices. They include Edward himself and also the adults around him from the social worker who first rescues him from the apartment to the couple who foster him to the family that adopts him and his adopted sister. This is necessary as Edward begins to spiral out of control, so that readers can still view him clearly and better understand the hidden impacts and scars that his tortured upbringing have left on him.

Edward is a strong and interesting protagonist who is vastly human and easy to relate to. Fine uses the videos of a Mr. Rogers like figure to explain how Edward’s mind survived intact. As Edward seems completely fine much of the time, it is his fall into darkness that makes the book believable and allows readers to more fully understand the deep despair that has been lapping at him all along. Fine’s writing allows us hope for Edward’s future, then takes that away, only to restore it once again, showing that all of us have the potential to lose ourselves and find ourselves over and over again.

A powerful read that will be popular with those teens who like A Child Called It. Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from copy received from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

A List of Cages by Robin Roe

| Tasha

a-list-of-cages-by-robin-roe

A List of Cages by Robin Roe (9781484763803)

Julian just wants to get through high school without attracting anyone’s attention. He has a secret spot to hide during lunch where he feels safe, something he never feels anywhere else even at home. Julian’s parents died when he was a child and now he lives with his last remaining relative, an uncle by marriage. Adam is a popular kid in high school, bouncing with energy from his ADHD and full of smiles to brighten everyone’s day. When Adam is sent to find a freshman who is missing his sessions with the school counselor, he is surprised to discover it is Julian, who had once been his foster brother. But as the two get closer, it is clear that something awful is happening to Julian, something that may be too big for them to handle.

This teen novel is about grief, loss and pain. It’s about possibilities lost, other lives dashed. It’s gut-wrenching and powerful and devastating. And yet, it is also brimming with hope, with a gritty potential for change that just won’t stop, with the power of friendship and the deep abiding love of brotherhood. It’s complicated and not easy in any way. It’s wonderful.

The writing by Roe makes everything powerful and dense with meaning. Here is how she has Adam describe Julian on Page 170 of the book:

I used to think struggle was what aged you, but if that were the case, Julian should’ve been a hundred years old. Now I wonder if the opposite is true. Maybe instead of accelerating your age, pain won’t let you grow.

The characters here are brilliantly juxtaposed. She does not turn to the trope of the well-off teen being a bully or a jerk. Instead, Adam is a bright spot for everyone until he faces something he can’t deal with. It’s such a mix of tragedy, hope and fear. One that Roe has written with depth and care.

A stunning debut novel that is deeply moving and wondrously hopeful. Appropriate for ages 15-18.

Reviewed from library copy.

 

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

| Tasha

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor (InfoSoup)

Perry has lived in the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility for all eleven years of his life. His mother is incarcerated there and the warden has made it possible for them to be together. He sleeps in his own small room and makes the morning announcements out to the cell blocks. There are many people at the facility that he adores and who love his too, making up his family. He goes to school in the community nearby but obviously can’t invite his friends over to his house. As his mother’s parole date nears, a local DA discovers that Perry is living in the prison and has him removed. Perry is moved to live with the DA and his step daughter, who happens to be Perry’s best friend. There is also some question about whether Perry living at the prison will stop his mother’s parole. As the parole date is moved back, Perry works on a class project about how he came to live in the county and that means telling the stories of his prison family, particularly his mother’s.

Connor writes a piercingly honest book about the power of family and love, and the way that families don’t need to be nuclear to be functional and loving. Taking the unique perspective of a boy who grows up inside a facility, Connor demonstrates what a good prison looks like, how it can be a community and a home and how it can heal and allow for people to forgive themselves. The perspective of Perry’s mother is also shared in some chapters, giving the loving mother a voice as she tries to protect Perry from her own truth.

I must complain a bit about the title, which I continue to find confusing even after finishing the book. Add to that the cover which I also don’t relate closely to the book. It’s too bad, given the high quality of the writing and the story and I do hope that the paperback version does a better job of selling the real story inside.

A superb read that looks at prisons, families and the power of community. Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from copy received from Katherine Tegen Books.

 

Elliot by Julie Pearson

| Tasha

Elliot by Julie Pearson

Elliot by Julie Pearson, illustrated by Manon Gauthier (InfoSoup)

Elliot was a little boy whose parents loved him very much. But there was a problem, when Elliot cried his parents did not understand why and when he yelled they did not know what to do. So one day a social worked named Thomas came and Elliot was taken to a new family with a new mother and father. It was different there and Elliot’s new family understood when he was hungry, when he was upset and when he needed attention. Elliot still got to see his parents sometimes too and they had a lot of fun together. His parents did try to care for him once again, but they still did not understand what he needed so he got moved to another family who could respond to his needs. Finally, Elliot came to a family where they wanted him to stay forever. They understood his needs even more deeply than any other family had and said things like “I love you forever, forever.”

This book is so very important. It is a book about the foster care system and one that is so intensely honest that it can be hard to read at times. Pearson manages to not make Elliot’s parents bad at all, keeping their neglect of Elliot vague enough to fit the experiences of many children. That also keeps the book appropriate for the youngest listeners. At the same time, Pearson shows the way children are moved from home to home, the way that they can go back to their parents, and the ability to finally find a permanent home where they are loved and cared for. The moment where parents finally use the word “love” with Elliot is so powerful because readers until that moment will not have realized that he had not been told it before. It’s a moment of realization that stings the heart.

Gauthier’s illustrations are done in cut paper collage. The colors are muted and quiet, creams and tans with lines on them. The background colors change slightly with the various families that Elliot lives with, but they are always muted. I appreciated this subtlety in the colors that supports the quiet and undramatic feel of the entire book.

Honest and vital, this picture book fills a huge gap in children’s books with its depiction of the foster system for small children. Appropriate for ages 3-5.

Reviewed from copy received from Pajama Press and Myrick Marketing & Media.

 

Review: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

| Tasha

counting by 7s

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Willow Chance didn’t fit in well at her elementary school, so she is attending a middle school across town which none of her previous classmates will be attending.  But Willow is just not made to fit in with others.  She does fine with her adoptive parents who are accepting of her obsession with gardening and medical conditions as long as she doesn’t tell them everything since that would make them worry.  And one of the things she doesn’t tell them is that the middle school thinks that she cheated on a major standardized test because she got a perfect score.  So she is sent to counseling though Dell, the school counselor has no idea what to do to help her.  Two siblings who also go to see Dell have their own ideas though and that is how Willow comes to be out driving with Dell and the others when she finds out that her parents have been killed in a car accident.  Now Willow has lost her parents, her home, her garden and her will to explore.  This is a story that is about community, building your family one person at a time, and the wonder of what having people in your life that care can do.  It is the story of the amazing Willow Chase.

Sloan’s writing verges on verse at times with its short lines, lined up neatly and speaking profoundly and honestly.  It is writing that examines and explores but also moves the story forward at speed.  It is imminently readable with plenty of white space and few if any dense paragraphs of text.  Rather it has a wonderful lightness about it, even when describing tragedy.  And this book is filled with loss and grief that is handled with a gentle depth.  Yet it is also a book filled with joy and overcoming odds and inspiration. 

Sloan creates not just one incredible character in this novel but an entire group of them.  At first the book seems disjointed with the various perspectives shown, since we get to see things not only from Willow’s point of view, from the other teens, but also from the adults as well.  But those disparate parts come together in a way that a book from just Willow’s point of view never could have.  They add an understanding of Willow’s appeal to others that would not have been possible without it.

This is a tragic story with an indomitable heroine that will leave you smiling through the tears.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from library copy.

Touch Blue

| Tasha

Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord

Released August 1, 2010.

Tess firmly believes in luck and does all sorts of things to try and capture some of it.  But wishes and luck are difficult things to grab ahold of as Tess quickly discovers.  On her island home, the number of children have fallen below the threshold to have a school.  If nothing is done, Tess and her family will have to leave the island and Tess will be unable to become a fisherman the way she wants to.  So the islanders decide to take in foster children to both increase the number of children on the island and to help other people.  Tess has been envisioning an orphan like Anne of Green Gables, who loves to read, loves the island and loves their family.  But real life is more complicated.  Her family ends up fostering Aaron, a boy haunted by his past and the loss of his mother, a boy who is silent and distant, moody and who plays the trumpet with amazing skill.  Where is the luck in that?

Lord’s writing is effortless and enjoyable.  While this book feels like a light summer read, it offers many insights into family, loss, luck and bravery.  Lord has again tackled a difficult subject with such a brilliant approach that readers will be happily afloat in her hands before realizing that the book has a lot more depth than they may have expected.

Lord also excels at characters.  Here Tess is the main protagonist, a girl who holds onto her haven of a community and clings to all the luck she can.   She is a complex character written with restraint and understanding.  Her delightful mix of bravery, self-assurance, and doubt is masterfully presented.  Another great characterization is Aaron who reveals himself to the reader slowly, just as he does to Tess and her family.  He is a foil to many characterizations of foster children, yet at the same time he has a darkness and need to him that speaks volumes.

You are guaranteed to have luck if you pick up this title, even more if you share it with another.  Appropriate for ages 9-12.

Reviewed from ARC received from Scholastic.

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Solace of the Road

| Tasha

Solace of the Road by Siobhan Dowd

Holly was now placed with a family of her own after years in a residential home for teens.  Fiona and Ray seemed to want her, but it might turn out the same as the last place where she was sent back.  Best that she leave on her own terms and head to find her mother in Ireland where she was waiting.  Holly dons a blonde wig that makes her look much older than her 15 years and calls herself Solace.  From London, she hitchhikes her way across Britain.  On the way, she meets kindness in surprising places and finds out more about herself and her past. 

There is magic in Dowd’s writing, filled with crystalline moments and complexity and no simple answers.  This road-trip novel has the essential ingredient of slow progression in self-awareness.  Holly is a complicated character, filled with bravado, anger and confusion.  She is portrayed with so many layers, that just discovering her is a joy.  Holly’s use of an alter ego to understand herself is drawn with caring and a supreme gentleness.  There are moments of stillness in the novel where insight is just around the corner, but then life intervenes and the reader must wait patiently for the next moment to come. 

Dowd uses the setting as almost its own character in the novel.  Readers who have never been to Britain will still find themselves picturing it clearly in their head, hearing the birds, visiting the dark towns. 

This is a beauty of a character sketch created by a gifted author whose career ended way too early.  Highly recommended for fans of problem novels, this book will stun with the quality of the writing.  Appropriate for ages 14-17.

Reviewed from library copy.

Also reviewed by Abby (the) Librarian and Crossover.