May is National Foster Care Month, so we are looking at books in our collection that feature foster families. For more information about foster care, visit www.childwelfare.gov/fostercaremonth
White Oleander by Janet Fitch: “When beautiful, egotistical poet Ingrid murders the lover who dumped her, 12-year-old daughter Astrid descends into the hells of foster care, where she is sustained only by a fierce intelligence and great artistic talent…. Heartbreaking, but without a trace of sentimentality, this novel provokes amazement that children like Astrid can emerge whole and capable after what we know are even worse childhoods than hers.” --Library Journal review
Michel, Michel by Robert Lewis: “An explosive, emotional novel about a young Jewish boy whose parents die at the hands of the Nazis but he is saved by a Catholic Frenchwoman and raised in her faith. When the war ends Michel's aunt in Israel claims him but ‘Madam Rose’ Michel's foster French mother refuses to give him up and the battle is soon joined. What begins as a personal quarrel in a small provinical [sic] town slowly and inexorably grows into a cause involving the hierarchy of the Church and the leaders of French Jewry as the boy goes in hiding passed from one secret refuge to another by Madam Rose and by the priests and nuns. The conflict not only divides France reviving old passions and stirring up anti-Semitism and anticlericalism it becomes a national scandal. But in the end it is up to young Michel torn and devastated by opposing loyalties and loves who must decide his own fate. A sweeping narrative, brillantly [sic] written and plotted.” --Publisher’s summary
Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner: “Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades ... beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden--one that will test her convictions and her heart. 1940s, England. As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London's civilian population, one million children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy's burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia's profound need for her sister's presence. Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed…” --Publisher’s summary
Georgie and the Lambs by Barbara Miller: “Ten-year old Georgie is a foster child who still feels the pain of her mother's abandonment. When she gets sent to a farm to live with Twila and Frank Sutter, she thinks it will be even more work than she usually has to do in a foster home. A pair of abandoned new-born lambs need to be fed every two hours and need the love of a devoted mom. Georgie names them Blanche and Camille, and loves them and everything about the farm. But when it's time to send the lambs back to live with the flock, will Georgie be able to figure out a way to keep them safe, especially with a pair of foxes on the prowl? More importantly, can she learn to trust and love the two people who now care about her as much as she loves Blanche and Camille?” --Publisher’s summary
Georgie and the Coyotes by Barbara Miller: “Twelve-year-old Georgie thinks she has found the perfect foster home with Frank and Twila on their sheep farm. But just when her new family needs her the most, with a coyote pack on the prowl, her birth mother comes to take her away in the second tale of George and her flock.” --Publisher’s summary
Standing in the Shadows by Michelle Spring: “British private eye Laura Principal investigates the bludgeoning of a 60-year-old woman by her 11-year-old foster son. Although the boy confessed to the crime, it is not clear what made him do it. Did the woman contribute to her death?” --Publisher’s summary
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