Foster Care Month    There are nearly half a million American children and youth in foster care, and an estimated 12 million foster care alumni. Most children are placed temporarily in foster care due to parental abuse or neglect. National Foster Care Month is an opportunity to address the needs of these children and to recognize the many different people who work daily to create stable environments for those in foster care.    Foster Care Month began in 1988 through the efforts of the National Foster Parent Association and then Senator Strom Thurmond. Now, the Foster Care Month partnership is comprised of 14 national organizations dedicated to raising public awareness to those youths who are not living at home because their own families are unable to care for them.    Listed below are a number of books that deal with family issues involving foster care. Browse through these titles and those from previous years for some selections to share with your family or students. And for more information on foster care please visit: http://www.fostercaremonth.org/Pages/default.aspx http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/socwork/nrcfcpp/info_services/fact-sheets.html http://www.cwla.org/programs/fostercare/fostercaremonth.htm Contributor: Sheilah Egan Reviews After Tupac and D Foster Jacqueline Woodson    Three the hard way. Three girls who are best friends. Two who were childhood friends and a third whose freedom is the envy of the others. The three eleven-year-old girls share a common admiration for the music of Tupac Shakur. All of them identify with Tupac's music and lyrics, but free-spirited D Foster seems to sadly connect with Tupac's music more than her friends. The two other girls slowly realize that they really do not know much about D Foster, and they gradually learn that her freedom is not something to be envied. Despite their seeming hardships (including, for one of the girls, having a brother in jail for a crime he did not commit), the girls begins to understand that having a stable home life makes them lucky. D Foster is a foster child who has been moved from home to home for most of her life, and she leaves her new friends as suddenly as she joined them. The shocking and sad passing of Tupac Shakur seemingly coincides with the demise of their friendship. Jacqueline Woodson, an award-winning author of many young adult books, has written another absorbing story that all readers--especially those who have felt the loss of a friendship--will identify with. 2008, G. P. Putnam's Sons, $15.99. Ages 10 up. Reviewer: Denise Daley (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780399246548 ISBN: 0399246541 Bank Job James Heneghan and Norma Charles    The "Three Musketeers" as they call themselves will do just about anything to keep their family together, even robbing a bank! Nails, Tom, and Billy all live in the same foster home in Vancouver. When they learn their loving home comes under scrutiny for not meeting the standards of the Foster Parents Association, they take matters into their own hands to get money enough to add another bathroom. Based on their age and their feeling of safety in numbers, the three resort to criminal activity. Who would believe kids could get away with robbing a bank? They do--for a while--until guilty feelings set in and the kids fess up, taking their punishment in stride. The main characters are well developed and could easily be anyone's next door neighbors; they are likeable and believable. This book has a good ending and a story that discusses ethical behavior, family dynamics, and social services systems all in one quick read! Hopefully there will be more stories from this team of authors. 2009, Orca Book Publishers, $9.95. Ages 9 to 13. Reviewer: Elizabeth Young (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9781551438559 ISBN: 1551438550 Defect Will Weaver    What price should we be willing to pay for a rare, extraordinary gift? What if that gift is made possible only by the possession of a body regarded by others as disfigured, distorted, and defective? When is difference from others a curse, and when is it a blessing? Fifteen-year-old foster-child David has a short face, bug eyes, a stooped back, painfully sensitive hearing, and wings. Doctors call his condition "Ichthyosis vulgaris" --which he knows has "something to do with birdlike and ugly"--but they cannot know the strange joy he feels as he swoops down off a high cliff in the night like a soaring angel. When David is sent to Oak Leaf Alternative School, for the first time he encounters other young people who, like him, have "a story," including epilectic Cheetah, with whom he falls in love. Then David is confronted with a choice: Should he have reconstructive surgery that will turn him into conventionally handsome "New Guy" and clip his wings forever? The resolution of the story is somewhat predictable--would anyone publish a young adult novel that encouraged teens to alter themselves surgically to become more like everyone else? One might wish that Weaver had allowed David to entertain a less all-or-nothing choice: couldn't some of his grotesque facial features be corrected without robbing him of the gift of flight? Weaver's unusual and compelling novel raises profound and important philosophical questions that should be of intense interest to any reader who has pondered the price of conformity. 2007, Farrar Strauss Giroux, $16.00. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780374317256 ISBN: 0374317259 The Guardian Joyce Sweeney    "I feel myself sort of cracking up, like splitting into two parts. One part of me--no, it's all of me--slides out of bed and lands on my knees. I fold my hands on top of the sheet... Gabriel, please. Come back to me." After losing his foster father, Mike Hunter is once again left reeling. Given up for adoption at a young age, Hunter bounces around "the system" for quite some time before ending up at Mike and Stephanie's house. While Stephanie was content with the two foster girls and one adopted daughter they already had, Mike wanted a boy, and they got Hunter. Stephanie's resentment for Hunter though only grows after Mike's death, spilling over to frequent verbal and sometimes harshly physical abuse. Hunter also takes abuse from his nark of an older foster sister, from bullies at school, and from himself as he wonders if he is actually inviting the cruelty. At the height of his emotional torment, Hunter turns for help to St. Gabriel, the patron saint of lost children. Hunter believes, as a young child, he was visited by St. Gabriel who told Hunter he would always protect him. Immediately after "contacting" St. Gabriel, Hunter's luck seems to turn around. He starts to make money, gets a girl, and avoids beat-downs at school. Unfortunately, Stephanie, in a moment of despair, takes a beating further than ever before. When the supposed St. Gabriel violently intervenes, the book takes a drastic turn, forcing Hunter to examine his past and his identity. While Hunter may be sorting out identity issues, he is an easy character to root for. Because he is constantly stepped on, Hunter is wary but never jaded. He wants to succeed, to please, to love, and to be loved. The author, Sweeney, also adds to Hunter's charm, in a Good Will Hunting sort of way, by placing him in the gifted class rather than following the cliché of an at risk, struggling student. Even Hunter's language and the tone of the book artfully tiptoes the line between authenticity and appropriateness, safely placing the title on middle school shelves while retaining some street credentials for reluctant readers. The only major drawback is the book's identity issues. While it starts engagingly as realistic fiction, it dabbles for a time in religious fantasy before jutting off into an intense "guys on the lam" tale. While the reader will loyally follow Hunter on the ride, wanting to protect him the way his version of St. Gabriel never could, there may be a waiting case of whiplash. 2009, Henry Holt and Company/Macmillan, $16.99. Ages 12 to 16. Reviewer: Paul Walter (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780805080193 ISBN: 0805080198 Monster Baby Dian Curtis Regan Illustrated by Doug Cushman    One morning, a basket was left on the Oliver's front porch. Attached to the bundle in the basket was a note asking the couple to take care of the baby. The Oliver's--who had no children of their own--had different reactions. Mrs. Oliver was elated to have a baby left in their care and promptly named it Olly. Mr. Oliver, on the other hand, was rather hesitant and tentative about the new arrival. This baby was not like any other infant. It had fur, a tail, some pointy teeth, and a pair of horns! Mr. Oliver was further puzzled because no one else seemed to notice that this baby was different. The baby not only looked different; other surprising things began to happen, too. By the end of Olly's first day with the Oliver's, he was able to walk and talk. The couple found themselves having to quickly adapt to the "growing" changes. Brightly-colored pictures illustrate this amusing story of a couple caring for a baby found on their doorstep. The surprise at the end of the story brings a smile. 2009, Clarion Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.00. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Carrie Hane Hung (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780547060064 ISBN: 0547060068 Murphy's Three Homes: A Story for Children in Foster Care Jan Levinson Gilman Illustrated by Kathy O'Malley    Murphy, the Tibetan Terrier, is supposed to be a "good luck" dog but starts feeling like a "bad luck" dog when every home he goes to turns out to be temporary. Written as an allegory for children in foster care or adoptive homes, the illustrations of the shaggy black and white pup are appealing and will help children identify with Murphy's situation. Murphy tries to be "good" enough so each family will keep him, but, something always goes wrong. His confusion at certain points mirrors the confusion a child would feel. For example, when his family has a party and he is left in the bathroom Murphy believes they are screening a new family for him, so he panics and runs away. Finally, he gives up trying to be good but finds a beautiful, "forever" home filled with unconditional love where he flourishes. The author, Jan Levinson Gilman, Ph. D., provides a three-page "Note to Caregivers and Other Adults" with extensive information on using the book as a tool to explore feelings and concerns that foster or foster-adopt children may be experiencing. 2009, Magination Press, $9.95. Ages 4 to 8. Reviewer: Debra Lampert-Rudman (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9781433803840 ISBN: 1433803844 ISBN: 9781433803857 ISBN: 1433803852 Peace, Locomotion Jacqueline Woodson    Lonnie is back, and this time he's writing letters to his younger sister Lili rather than the vivid poems of Locomotion. Because the siblings are still being raised in separate foster homes, there's no chance of regular face-to-face contact and Lonnie,12, wants to help the little girl to remember the good times with their parents, who died tragically in a fire. As this epistolary novel progresses, though, the reader is drawn ever deeper into Lonnie's present life as he reflects on his foster mother, Miss Edna, and her sons, Rodney and Jenkins, who have become like brothers to him. With Jenkins home from war in a wheelchair, Lonnie does his best to help, especially knowing that Jenkins suffers from post-traumatic flashbacks similar to his own. These lyrical letters touch on pain, loss, a lively snowball fight, homemade chicken and dumplings and the "perfect little things" that fill and warm a life. "Sometimes the heart breaks so hard," says Miss Edna and sometimes, like Lonnie's, it survives and beats with hope. 2009, G. P. Putnam's Sons, $15.99. Ages 11 to 14. Reviewer: Mary Quattlebaum (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780399246555 ISBN: 039924655X Runaway Twin Peg Kehret    Thirteen-year-old Sunny Skyland has had anything but a sunny life. Orphaned at age three, and separated from her twin sister, Starr, she is now living in her seventh foster home. Her new foster mother, Rita, is kind and loving (except for her mildly irritating refusal to allow Sunny to eat her favorite junk foods), but more than anything, Sunny longs to be reunited with Starr. So when Sunny happens upon an abandoned satchel filled with cash, she sets off on a journey across the country from Nebraska to Oregon to see if she can find the house portrayed in her one surviving photo (taken a decade ago) of the two little girls. Kehret knows how to spin an affecting and engrossing story: right away Sunny meets up with an abandoned, aging dog to be her companion, protector, but also burden (her transportation plans foiled by bus company policies against dogs); she is also menaced by thugs and, for good measure, survives a tornado, as well. Characterizations and plot developments in the last third of the book are exaggerated and implausible, but this really does not matter, for by this point readers will be rooting hard for Sunny and her dog, Snickers, and eager for Sunny to learn the predictable but nonetheless satisfying lesson of what it truly means to be a family. 2009, Dutton, $16.99. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: Claudia Mills, Ph.D. (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780525421771 ISBN: 0525421777 Shifty Lynn E. Hazen    In this wonderfully entertaining young adult novel, Soli, a 15-year-old boy is also known as Shifty. He has spent his entire life in foster and group homes. Struggling to find his independence, while at the same time searching for a place to call home, he is a good kid to whom bad things happen. Driving his foster mother's van without a license or permit, he is constantly in situations where he is certain he will be arrested. But he always tries to do what's best for his foster sister, his foster brother, and anyone else he can help. In each situation, he messes up, but he is responsible. The story rings true, and, as such, provides important insight into a world many people can only guess at--foster children, crack babies, and the homeless--all dealing with the bureaucracy of social services. The story is fast paced and often humorous. 2008, Tricycle Press/Ten Speed Press, $15.99. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Sue Poduska (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9781582462578 ISBN: 1582462577 Solace of the Road Siobhan Dowd    This is the fourth of Siobhan Dowd's novels, and has been published posthumously following Dowd's untimely death in 2007. Told in the first person voice of fiftenn-year-old Holly Hogan, Solace of the Road is the story of a girl who is seemingly running away from foster care and all the related social networks hemming her in. In reality she's seeking to flee a past that is simply too horrific to remember. In great loops of story occasionally reminiscent of Carolyn Coman's What Jamie Saw, the narrative circles back again and again from Holly's present road trip to an increasingly haunting past, until it culminates in the single traumatic event that explains who Holly is and why she behaves as she does. The kindness of strangers is redemptive in Dowd's bittersweet narrative, as is the role of community, and both elements summon up some of her finest writing. Grittiness is tempered by humor, and Holly's construction of self merges into the sure, incremental falling away of the falsehoods inherent in memory. This novel fully realizes the brilliance evident in Dowd's earlier work (A Swift Pure Cry, The London Eye Mystery, and the evocative time-slip novel, Bog Child). 2009, David Fickling Books/Random House, Ages 12 up, $17.99. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9780375849718 ISBN: 9780375949715 ISBN: 0375949712 The Sorta Sisters Adrian Fogelin    Mica sent a janthina shell in her first letter to Anna, explaining how the shell drifts along the ocean currents, washing up on shore wherever the winds and waves take it. Both Anna and Mica have been adrift most of their lives, just like the janthina. Mica lives aboard a sailboat, traveling from port to port with her alcoholic father and going to school by mail. Anna has drifted from foster home to foster home never staying in one place long enough to develop lasting friendships. Though the two girls have never met, they quickly develop a pen pal relationship, discover they have a lot in common, and become best friends. Plus, it looks like this may be the year it all turns around and they both find some permanency in their lives. Though it is not final yet, Anna hopes to be adopted by her current foster mom, Ms. J., and Mica and her dad have moored at Bert's Marina for a year thanks to a research grant he just received. Told in multiple points of view alternating among Anna, Mica, Ms. J., and marina owner, Aunt Emma, this is a wonderfully told story exploring the universal theme of searching for one's rightful place in the world. Hand drawn sketches of the nature items each sends with their letters add to the text. 2007, Peachtree Publishers, $15.95. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: Pat Trattles (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9781561454242 ISBN: 1561454249 Three Little Words: A Memoir Ashley Rhodes-Courter    This is indeed a memoir, pieced together from personal memories, scavenged photographs, recollections of relatives, and piles of state documents. It is also a powerful indictment of the worst failings of the systems that are charged with protecting our most precious resource--our nation's children. Taken from her mother at three years old and adopted at age 12, Ashley tells a nearly unbelievable tale of foster care personnel who repeatedly violated protocols for checking on children in their care, ignored charges of abuse and even doctored documents, all to the detriment of the children in the foster care system. This is a very personal and vulnerable tale that will touch teens and adults alike. Ashley continues to hold out hope that she will be reunited with her birth mother as she is shuffled, sometimes with her younger brother and sometimes separately, from one placement to another--more than a dozen over the course of nine years. The "three little words" of the title are not the ones you expect, but are the ones that change her life, finally, for the better. What is perhaps most remarkable about this book is that Ashley eventually triumphs, thanks to the help of a dedicated guardian ad litem and her adoptive parents. She becomes a crusader to hold the guilty accountable and to give voice to all the children who feel they have been lost in the system. This is a book that can help readers to better understand the challenges that children in foster care may face and can serve to promote belief in and strategies for self-empowerment. 2008, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster Publishing, $17.99. Ages 12 to 18. Reviewer: Paula McMillen, Ph.D. (Children's Literature). ISBN: 9781416948063 ISBN: 1416948066 For Foster Care's Month Choices from 2006, Click Here To stay up to date on this topic, consider subscribing to The Children's Literature Comprehensive Database. For your free trial, click here. Added 4/28/10