Frank Carlson Library

"Jack, 12, tells the gripping story of Joseph, 14, who joins his family as a foster child. Damaged in prison, Joseph wants nothing more than to find his baby daughter, Jupiter, whom he has never seen. When Joseph has begun to believe he'll have a future, he is confronted by demons from his past that force a tragic sacrifice"--

3 starred reviews - A Kirkus Best Book of 2017 - A New York Public Library Top Ten Books for Kids pick - An ALA Notable Book - 2018 NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor Book From rising star Caela Carter, author of My Life with the Liars, comes a captivating and heartfelt story about siblings who learn that love can never be divided, only multiplied. Flora and her brother, Julian, don't believe they were born. They've lived in so many foster homes, they can't...

Seventeen-year-old Margaret "Cuckoo" Clark keeps a journal detailing the trials and tribulations of high school life as she and her close-knit group of outcast friends try to break down the barriers between their school's "warring nations."

"Katherine Parker is on the cusp of having everything she ever wanted - fame, money, and acclaim. So why isn't she happy? In search of answers, she comes incognito to Hope Harbor on the Oregon coast for some R&R. Maybe in her secluded rental house overlooking the serene Pacific she'll be able to calm the storm inside. Coffee shop owner Zach Garrett has found his niche after a traumatic loss - and he has no plans to change the life he's created. Nor...

"Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care, looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To the End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children at the critical points in their search for a stable, loving family. The book mirrors the life cycle of a foster...

[This book] is [an] account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played torturous, unpredictable games - games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it."--Back...

Carley uses humor and street smarts to keep her emotional walls high and thick. But the day she becomes a foster child, and moves in with the Murphys, she's blindsided. This loving, bustling family shows Carley the stable family life she never thought existed, and she feels like an alien in their cookie-cutter-perfect household. Despite her resistance, the Murphys eventually show her what it feels like to belong--until her mother wants her back and...

Presents a young reader's version of a story in which Molly, close to aging out of the foster care system, takes a position helping an elderly woman named Vivian and discovers that they are more alike than different as she helps Vivian solve a mystery from her past.

"Riders on the Orphan Train is a novel about a little-known piece of American history. Bewteen 1854 and 1929, over 250,000 orphans and 'surrendered' children were 'placed out' across the country. They started their journey in New York and were given away in train stations in every state in the continental United States. This is the story of two children from very different backgrounds, Ezra Duval and Elizabeth Farrell, who find themselves on the same...