 | Harry Sue by Sue Stauffacher
Buy new: $12.44 / Used from: $0.01 Harry Sues plans to get thrown in the slammer and be reunited with her incarcerated mother are thwarted by her protective instincts for the children in her grandmothers care.
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 | The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Buy new: $5.99 / Used from: $0.01 Can a brash and brilliant foster child convince her beautiful mother to come rescue her? (PS - this cover sucks; try to get the edition with bubble gum on the cover)
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 | Homecoming (The Tillerman Series #1) by Cynthia Voigt
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $0.01 A classic tale of an older sibling, Dicey, taking over for her absent parents, and making sure that her brothers and sister survive. This situation is more common than you might think...
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 | The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson
Buy new: $5.99 / Used from: $0.01 Tracy keeps a funny and insightful journal about foster care and life in a group home.
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 | Bud, Not Buddy (Newbery Medal Winner, 2000) by Christopher Paul Curtis
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $0.01 A scrappy 10-year-old runs away from an abusive foster home in search of his father.
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 | Hidden Talents by David Lubar
Buy new: $5.99 / Used from: $0.01 At an alternative school for misbehavior, a group of boys discover their secret abilities.
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 | The Pinballs (Apple Paperbacks) by Betsy Byars
Buy new: $5.99 / Used from: $0.01 Three foster children, bounced from home to home, decide to take control of their lives.
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 | I'll Sing You One-O by Nan Gregory
Buy new: $12.48 / Used from: $0.01 A very realistic portrayal of how painful it can be to be separated from a foster home that is all you have ever known, and sent to live with family members whom you have never met before.
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 | Love, Sara by Mary Beth Lundgren
Buy used from: $0.74 A series of e-mail exchanges, diary entries and fiction charts Saras journey toward trust.
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 | Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen
Buy new: $10.85 / Used from: $1.20 Holly's journal entries and poems share her experiences as a self-proclaimed 'gypsy,' a foster child who has run away from yet another abusive home and is now homeless.
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 | Returnable Girl by Pamela Lowell
Buy used from: $0.88 Since the author is a social worker, I feared at first that this book might have a more clinical viewpoint -- but it won me over by the end!
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 | Quaking by Kathryn Erskine
Buy new: $13.25 / Used from: $0.15 The protagonist of this tale has a powerful and authentic voice. Matilda (a.k.a. Matt) has been in one kinship care/foster care placement after another. Her latest guardians are Quakers.
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 | Chloe Doe by Suzanne Phillips
Buy new: $13.25 / Used from: $0.27 Teens/Young Adults: This harsh subject is shared in beautifully lyrical language. Girl leaves dysfunctional home, takes to the streets, in and out of foster home, becomes teenage prostitute.
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 | Almost Home by Jessica Blank
Buy new: $12.47 / Used from: $0.01 Teens/Young Adults: This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a harsh and very realistic portrayal of youth homelessness.
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 | Get Well Soon by Julie Halpern
Buy new: $14.03 / Used from: $0.99 Teens and Tweens: Anna is shocked when her parents commit her to a mental hospital. The rules seem arbitrary and the price for her stay is inordinately high... but she does manage to lose weight, make friends and experience first love. Based upon the author's personal experiences.
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 | Sisters in Sanity by Gayle Forman
Buy used from: $0.28 Teens/Young Adults: Parents send their children off to an unscrupulous treatment center to 'fix' them.
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 | Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Buy new: $6.99 / Used from: $0.75 A young girl's creative artwork gradually reveals the events that led to her separation from her previous foster home.
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 | What I Call Life by Jill Wolfson
Buy new: $13.22 / Used from: $0.12 Cal Lavender's group home experience is made more positive by her knitting, storytelling guardian.
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 | Where I'd Like To Be (Aladdin Fiction) by Frances O'Roark Dowell
Buy new: $5.99 / Used from: $0.01 No longer trusting the adults in her life to create a home for her, a foster child decides to build a home of her own.
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 | Home, and Other Big, Fat Lies by Jill Wolfson
Buy new: $14.00 / Used from: $0.01 WARNING: Despite its attention-getting title, this book is really more about environmentalism than foster care.
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 | Skinnybones and the Wrinkle Queen by Glen Huser
Buy new: $16.95 / Used from: $0.22 Again, this is more about the relationship between a foster child and a senior citizen than it is about the actual experience of being in foster care. Still, it was a very interesting read.
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 | Tyrell (Push) by Coe Booth
Buy new: $13.25 / Used from: $1.97 Tyrell, his mother and his little brother are homeless - and Tyrell feels that he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Not only does he have relationship problems with his girlfriend, his mother refuses to look for a job and he doesn't want his younger brother to end up back in foster care again.
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 | Strays by Ron Koertge
Buy new: $13.25 / Used from: $0.01 "So where are you staying?" the dog asks.
"With some people who take care of strays."
"Like the pound?"
"Kind of."
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 | Heat by Mike Lupica
Buy new: $7.99 / Used from: $0.01 |
Listmania!
