For decades I have volunteered in different capacities, helping the hurting and those living on the margins by tutoring and teaching literacy to the formally incarcerated or homeless, teaching parenting in a maximum-security jail, and teaching ESL to resettled immigrants. Because my own suburban father fell into homelessness at the end of his life due to depression, job losses, divorce, and more, I feel tremendous compassion for anyone in this situation. And as the mother of four grown sons, we filled our home with books—especially books that taught compassion so our sons would grow into men with big hearts towards others. I believe we succeeded.
The main character, Perry, was born in a correctional facility and lives there with his mom—until a new district attorney decides Perry would be better off in a foster home.
When Perry moves away from the facility, he feels desperate to be reunited with his mom. His story brought to life the young people my husband and I learn of vicariously through inmates we teach in our parenting class at a local maximum-security jail.
Perry’s plight reminds me of how kids love their parents unconditionally and navigate hard territory when they can’t provide a stable existence.
Junior Library Guild Selection * Kids' Indie Next List Pick From Leslie Connor, award-winning author of Waiting for Normal and Crunch, comes a soaring and heartfelt story about love, forgiveness, and how innocence makes us all rise up. All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook is a powerful story, perfect for fans of Wonder and When You Reach Me. Eleven-year-old Perry was born and raised by his mom at the Blue River Co-ed Correctional Facility in tiny Surprise, Nebraska. His mom is a resident on Cell Block C, and so far Warden Daugherty has made it possible for them…
Brash eleven-year-old Charlie Reese battles her emotions, especially her anger, as a result of her parents’ inability to appropriately care for her.
When she is sent to Colby, North Carolina to live with family she barely knows, her anger bubbles over, spilling onto the new people in her life—people who have shown her nothing but kindness.
While I didn’t necessarily find Charlie’s tendency to blurt out cruel comments and call people “hillbillies” very endearing, the townsfolk moved me when they only showed this girl love and forgiveness in return. Wish inspires me to love difficult people with the same gusto as Gus, Bertha, and all the Odoms.
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This book is for kids age
9,
10,
11, and
12.
What is this book about?
Eleven-year-old Charlie Reese has been making the same silent wish since fourth grade, hoping that some day it j will come true. When her irresponsible parents send her to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina to live with family members she doesn't know, she needs that wish to come true more than ever. A stray dog, a great friend, and the love of a big-hearted aunt and uncle just might make it happen.
I love anything written by Katherine Paterson. This book introduces Giladriel Hopkins (Gilly), a young girl waiting for her mom to come and rescue her from foster care.
Gilly’s horrendously disrespectful behavior is hard to take sometimes, and yet because we know her living situation, we quietly read along, offering her our sympathy. Paterson highlights a child’s ability to mentally clean up their parents and offer them undeserved trust, despite the fact they have neglected or abandoned their children.
Gilly’s plight increased my awareness about the constant pains some kids live with daily. Her longing for a mother’s love would resonate even with adults who longed for their own mother’s love.
The timeless Newbery Honor Book from bestselling author Katherine Paterson about a wisecracking, ornery, completely unforgettable young heroine.
Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she's hated them all. She has a reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmanageable, and that's the way she likes it. So when she's sent to live with the Trotters—by far the strangest family yet—she knows it's only a temporary problem.
Gilly decides to put her sharp mind to work and get out of there fast. She's determined to no longer be a foster kid. Before long…
Despite being all grown up, I return to this delightful and poignant book over and over.
Author Kate DiCamillo brings us such a well-written and engaging story of young India whose mom abandoned her and her preacher father. Both live in grief and longing with hopes the mother will one day return.
When you introduce a hilarious dog who knows how to smile, charm, and lure the hurting from their shell, you have the makings of the perfect story. DiCamillo pairs all the hard circumstances of India’s life with colorful characters harboring hard stories of their own. Together they make a way forward toward healing.
Funny and poignant, this 2001 Newbery Honor novel captures life in a quirky Southern town as Opal and her mangy dog, Winn-Dixie, strike up friendships among the locals.
One summer's day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries - and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It's because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends. And it's because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother, who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that…
I would read anything written by the talented Cynthia Rylant. Her books for young people introduce moving stories and unforgettable characters. Missing May is one of those stories featuring young Summer who loses her mom and then is passed around to different aunts and uncles who don’t want to care for her. Finally, elderly Aunt May and Uncle Ob meet her and take her to live with them in West Virginia.
I especially love Rylant’s portrayal of the humble life of May, Ob, and Summer in a rusty old trailer that feels like a palace because it’s so full of love and tenderness. When May dies, Summer’s pain is compounded—and then we meet quirky Cletus who helps Summer and Ob seek relief from their grief.
This critically acclaimed winner of the Newbery Medal joins the Scholastic Gold line, which features award-winning and beloved novels. Includes exclusive bonus content.
Ever since May, Summer's aunt and good-as-a-mother for the past six years, died in the garden among her pole beans and carrots, life for Summer and her Uncle Ob has been as bleak as winter. Ob doesn't want to create his beautiful whirligigs anymore, and he and Summer have slipped into a sadness that they can't shake off. They need May in whatever form they can have her -- a message, a whisper, a sign that will…
Home isn’t always what we dream it will be. Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra navigates her mom’s PTSD. When they end up at a shelter for women and children, Sierra is even more aware of what her life is not. The kind couple who run the shelter, Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, attempt to show her parental love as she faces the uncertainties of her mom’s emotional health and the challenges of being the brand-new kid in middle school. The longer she stays at the shelter, the more Sierra realizes she may have to face an impossible choice as she redefines home.
Since losing his mom, thirteen-year-old Jack Wilson has spent most of his time seeing just how much trouble he can get away with so that he feels like a winner at something. But he takes his mischief too far and is faced with the possibility of unbearable consequences. He knows it’s time to make a big change.
After rediscovering the love of baking he once shared with his mother, Jack is sure that his new sense of purpose will help him stay on the right path, so he throws himself into learning the finer points of sprinkles and scones—and…
After losing his mom, a struggling thirteen-year-old boy in northern Wisconsin rediscovers the love of baking he once shared with her and decides to audition for the world-famous, big-hearted Marvelous Midwest Kids Baking Championship television show in Chicago. Jack is sure that his new sense of purpose will help him stay out of trouble, so he throws himself into learning the finer points of sprinkles and scones -- and hopefully even mending his broken relationship with his dad.
