100 books like All the Impossible Things

By Lindsay Lackey,

Here are 100 books that All the Impossible Things fans have personally recommended if you like All the Impossible Things. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Great Gilly Hopkins

Linda MacKillop Author Of Hotel Oscar Mike Echo

From my list on hard family circumstances for middle-grade readers.

Why am I passionate about this?

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.

Linda's book list on hard family circumstances for middle-grade readers

Linda MacKillop Why did Linda love this book?

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.

By Katherine Paterson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Great Gilly Hopkins as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 9, 10, 11, and 12.

What is this book about?

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…


Book cover of Smoke Signals

Don Dupay Author Of Behind the Badge in River City: A Portland Police Memoir

From my list on getting people thinking about the bigger picture.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a longtime writer and author, who basically learned the craft of writing from over 17 years with the Portland Police Bureau. Some of the best writers are working and retired police officers because, when you write those daily reports or detailed investigative reports, you learn how to write. I've written six books, two of which have been published by Oregon Greystone Press, the Indie Publishing company operated by my wife, Theresa. I graduated from Portland State University in 2017 and was listed in the commencement program as “the oldest PSU graduate” of that year. I was 80. I live in Portland with my wife, Theresa, also a writer and author. 

Don's book list on getting people thinking about the bigger picture

Don Dupay Why did Don love this book?

This is a book that shares intimate glimpses into the lives of a handful of Native Americans living on an Indian Reservation in the late 20th century. The book is full of humor, irony, and wit and was later made into a popular film. There are moments that are amusing and funny, but loneliness and a sense of apathy make their way into the storyline as well, as Victor, the lead character, tries to navigate the unpredictable family life he finds himself in. As a small boy he witnesses the damaging effects of alcoholism and what it does to his father and other family members, much like Sherman Alexie did himself. Victor is deeply resentful of his father’s abandonment when he was a child, and resents his friend Thomas for admiring his father for things like eating 15 pieces of fry bread in one sitting.

Victor struggles to find his…

By Sherman Alexie,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Smoke Signals as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Book by Alexie, Sherman


Book cover of Lightning

Kathleen Donohoe Author Of Ghosts of the Missing

From my list on books that feature complex friendships between women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and am the middle daughter of three. My sisters and I were close in age, and, of course, our home was girl-centered. The three of us attended the same all-girls Catholic high school, though we each had our own friends. Because of my childhood, I love books that explore how women make friends and keep them, how we let them go, and why. The genesis of friendships interests me, whether childhood, high school, college or motherhood. I love to read books by women where girlfriendships are not an afterthought or window dressing but central to the characters’ inner lives and the story being told. 

Kathleen's book list on books that feature complex friendships between women

Kathleen Donohoe Why did Kathleen love this book?

This book is both atmospheric and deeply eerie, and I didn’t guess what was really going on.

From the time she was born, Laura Shane has had a mysterious guardian who appears out of nowhere and intervenes in her life for the better. The question of who he is drives the novel. Laura is orphaned by the age of 12. In foster care, she meets Thelma. Their tough childhood bonds them for life, and I think their friendship is a poignant example of "found family." When the supernatural overtakes Laura’s life, I love that it’s Thelma she turns to.

It is definitely science fiction, but I never felt like the characters were merely devices to serve the intricate plot. Laura and Thelma stayed with me long after I finished the book.

By Dean Koontz,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lightning as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times bestselling author Dean Koontz's brilliantly thrilling novel of suspense.

In the midst of a raging blizzard, lightning struck on the night Laura Shane was born. And a mysterious blond-haired stranger showed up just in time to save her from dying.

Years later, in the wake of another storm, Laura will be saved again. For someone is watching over her. Is he the guardian angel he seems? The devil in disguise? Or the master of a haunting destiny beyond all time and space?

"A gripping novel...fast-paced and satisfying."-People


Book cover of That Mean Old Yesterday

Matthew Pratt Guterl Author Of Skinfolk: A Memoir

From my list on heartbreaking memoirs of race and adoption.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was raised as one of two white kids in a large, multiracial adoptive family by loving parents who wanted to change the world. Our parents were thoughtful about adoption, ambitious about the symbolism of our family, and raised us all to be conscious about race, to see it, and to guard against it. But the world is a lot bigger than our house and racism is insidious and so, in a way, we all eventually got swallowed up. So I started thinking hard about the dynamic relationship between race and adoption and family when I was just a kid, and I’ve never really stopped. 

Matthew's book list on heartbreaking memoirs of race and adoption

Matthew Pratt Guterl Why did Matthew love this book?

I should have read this book years ago. This singularly brilliant memoir is an undoing of the most pernicious adoption myth: that which traces the success of adopted children to their new families.

In this case, a bright and talented young woman makes it out of the foster system before eventually going to Penn and becoming an accomplished journalist and professor, but her adoption out of foster care turns into yet another traumatic experience.

Ambitiously, Patton spins that trauma outward, expanding the background until it spans centuries. When, by the close, she makes the start of a career for herself, that triumph is pretty much hers alone.

By Stacey Patton,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked That Mean Old Yesterday as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An astonishing coming-of-age memoir by a young woman who survived the foster care system to become an award-winning journalist On a rainy night in November 1999, a shoeless Stacey Patton, promising student at NYU, approached her adoptive parents' house with a gun in her hand. She wanted to kill them. Or so she thought. No one would ever imagine that the vibrant, smart, and attractive Stacey had a childhood from hell. After all, with God-fearing, house-proud, and hardworking adoptive parents, she appeared to beat the odds. But her mother was tyrannical, and her father turned a blind eye to the…


Book cover of Foster

Linda Murphy Marshall Author Of Ivy Lodge: A Memoir of Translation and Discovery

From my list on memoirs that touch upon something special.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up in the 1960s in the Midwest, in a male-dominated family, where appearances were highly important, where no one seemed to focus on anyone’s feelings or plans (particularly as a female member of the family). As a result, I’m drawn to books where the author explores this type of problematic relationship, of a protagonist trying to carve out her identity in the midst of often overwhelming obstacles. It also interests me to read about women who, like me, somehow managed to discover who they were (I use the word “translate” in my memoir), to carve out an identity that is separate from the idea that people around her erroneously hold to be true.

Linda's book list on memoirs that touch upon something special

Linda Murphy Marshall Why did Linda love this book?

This book is not a memoir per se, but it reads like a memoir.

Such a short book, but so packed with emotion and beautiful writing, as the protagonist attempts to find her place in the world. Although our family situations couldn’t have been more different in terms of the countries in which we grew up, and our family structure, I deeply identified with the protagonist’s feeling that she didn’t belong, wasn’t really part of the family situation in which she found herself. I read it months ago and it has remained with me.

By Claire Keegan,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Foster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

** Adapted into the Oscar-nominated film adaptation, An Cailin Ciuin / The Quiet Girl **

From the author of the Booker-shortlisted Small Things Like These, a heartbreaking, haunting story of childhood, loss and love by one of Ireland's most acclaimed writers.

'A real jewel.' Irish Independent

'A small miracle.' Sunday Times

'A thing of finely honed beauty.' Guardian

'Thrilling.' Richard Ford

'As good as Chekhov.' David Mitchell

It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A girl is sent to live with foster parents on a farm, not knowing when she will return home. In the strangers' house, she finds…


Book cover of Three Pennies

Tricia Springstubb Author Of The Most Perfect Thing in the Universe

From my list on middle grade fiction about The Thing with Feathers.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve written books for kids of all ages, and always there were birds. Sparrows singing on windowsills, cardinals arrowing across yards, cormorants diving into Lake Erie, pigeons poking beneath park benches. Those things with feathers make my own heart sing!  Slowly it dawned on me that I wanted to write a book where birds didn’t just flit across the pages but nested at the story’s heart. I had to do a lot of bird research for Perfect. What I learned about the precious, fragile bonds among all Earth’s creatures became one of the book’s themes: big and small, bound by gravity or able to defy it, we are all deeply connected. 

Tricia's book list on middle grade fiction about The Thing with Feathers

Tricia Springstubb Why did Tricia love this book?

Because…I adore multiple points of view. Here we get Marin, a foster child seeking clues to her past through the  I Ching; a beleaguered but loveable social worker; a woman longing for a child; an orphaned owl out of his element in the city; and the Earth herself. 

My favorite is Owl, who knows what it is to be abandoned and sees Marin as a hatchling he needs to protect. This is a short book with very brief chapters, but Crowder fills it with the wisdom of the ages (or is it the wisdom of owls?) I especially love how beautifully she handles friendship between generations and species.

By Melanie Crowder,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Three Pennies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

A girl in foster care tries to find her birth mother before she loses her forever in this spare and beautifully told novel about last chances and new opportunities.

For a kid bouncing from foster home to foster home, The Book of Changes is the perfect companion. That’s why Marin carries three pennies and a pocket-sized I Ching with her everywhere she goes. Yet when everything in her life suddenly starts changing—when Marin lands in a foster home that feels like somewhere she could stay, maybe forever—the pennies don’t have any answers for her.

Marin is positive that all the…


Book cover of Something Like Home

Jason Haskins Author Of Of Snow Forts and Santa

From my list on middle grade YA books on the struggles of change.

Why am I passionate about this?

To this day, I love stories and books that bring a sense of nostalgia to my heart. As I read now, many of these bring me back to my youth and those early days when I really started to love reading. For the most part, books on this list are seen through the eyes of a middle-grade protagonist—stories of overcoming obstacles and finding family in unexpected places. And characters who overcome mistakes, ultimately lending a hand. I love kindness and empathy in these books, whether spread throughout the story or reaching those qualities by the end, more than anything.

Jason's book list on middle grade YA books on the struggles of change

Jason Haskins Why did Jason love this book?

I love this book for its focus on overcoming obstacles amid overwhelming odds while balanced with love and hope. I enjoy the aspects of the story that tackle the idea of what family and friendship truly mean. This is a modern and inclusive story, and I like the ideas around characters accepting new roles and challenges while learning forgiveness. I love this endearing story for balancing a light, loving touch amidst heady storylines.

By Andrea Beatriz Arango,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Something Like Home as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

The Pura Belpre Honor winning novel in verse, in which a lost dog helps a lonely girl find a way home to her family . . . only for them to find family in each other along the way. From the Newbery Honor winning author of Iveliz Explains It All.

"Trust me: this book will touch your heart." -Barbara O'Connor, New York Times bestselling author of Wish

Titi Silvia leaves me by myself to unpack,
but it's not like I brought a bunch of stuff.
How do you prepare for the unpreparable?
How do you fit your whole life in…


Book cover of Orbiting Jupiter

Sara Zarr Author Of Kyra, Just for Today

From my list on not sugarcoating childhood.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was raised in a home where one parent was an acute alcoholic and the other parent was the child of an acute alcoholic, codependency and boundary issues flourished, and there was a touch of end-times religion to top it all off. This made me a kid who was highly tuned in to everything going on around me as a way to maintain a sense of control. Though that probably wasn’t the best thing for my emotional development, it’s turned me into a writer who strives to delve into the authentic human experience and a reader who wants that, too. The books on this list meet that bar!

Sara's book list on not sugarcoating childhood

Sara Zarr Why did Sara love this book?

My loyalty as a reader and writer is to realism, and this is about as real as it gets. The narrator gets an older foster brother who comes with real complications and a backstory that’s more than a bit scary.

At the same time, the book is so full of familial love that I leaked tears from about chapter three until the end as I watched these characters try to give and receive it.

By Gary D. Schmidt,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Orbiting Jupiter as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
A heartbreaking story, narrated by twelve-year-old Jack, whose family is caring for fourteen-year-old Joseph. Joseph is misunderstood. He was incarcerated for trying to kill a teacher. Or so the rumours say. But Jack and his family see something others in town don't want to.
What's more, Joseph has a daughter he's never seen. The two boys go on a journey through the bitter Maine winter to help Joseph find his baby - no matter the cost.


Book cover of The Unforgettable Logan Foster

Ben Gartner Author Of The Eye of Ra

From my list on new action-packed middle grade with heart.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read a good action-adventure story. I’ve also written a few. And I know that no matter how high the stakes, if there’s no heart in the characters then there’s very little engagement to make it any more memorable than a temporary thrill. I love thrills, but the stories that stick with you after the excitement of the moment is over, those are the true gems. Besides the fun of reading that type of book, maybe you even learn something about yourself or the world and come out a wee bit wiser than when you went in. And isn’t that a fantastic use of our imaginative powers?!

Ben's book list on new action-packed middle grade with heart

Ben Gartner Why did Ben love this book?

Logan Foster is a character who will stick with you. His story is an exciting, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride that belongs in the halls of great comic-book-level adventure.

And it is also an emotional journey for young Logan, who is seeking a family, wondering about his lost sibling, and looking to find a place in the world. His world just happens to be extraordinary in many action-packed ways.

This book is laugh-out-loud funny and, yes, sometimes dad-joke groan-worthy too. Because of its combination of excitement and heart, this book has earned a well-deserved spot on this list.

By Shawn Peters,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Unforgettable Logan Foster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 8, 9, 10, and 11.

What is this book about?

Packed with superheroes, supervillains, and epic showdowns between good and evil, The Unforgettable Logan Foster from debut author Shawn Peter shows that sometimes being a hero is just about being yourself.

Logan Foster has pretty much given up on the idea of ever being adopted. It could have something to with his awkward manner, his photographic memory, or his affection for reciting curious facts, but whatever the cause, Logan and his "PP's" (prospective parents) have never clicked.

Then everything changes when Gil and Margie arrive. Although they aren't exactly perfect themselves-Gil has the punniest sense of humor and Margie's cooking…


Book cover of The Sand Dancer

C. Becker Author Of Saving Euphoria

From my list on that have a connection with trauma.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have a B.S. degree in Medical Technology and connect my stories with science. The more I began researching problematic issues in our society for the subject matter of my trilogy, the more I began to empathize with the different kinds of suffering that people endure. I’ve incorporated traumas in all of my Euphoria trilogy stories, from illicit drugs, illnesses, loss, burns, skin regeneration, and human trafficking. Societal awareness is my passion; presenting issues to people who don’t realize these problems are as widespread as they actually are. 

C.'s book list on that have a connection with trauma

C. Becker Why did C. love this book?

I found the novel The Sand Dancer a compelling mystery. I felt sorry for Carrie, the main character, who lost her parents when she was two years old. As I read about Carrie’s troubling life, bouncing from one foster family to another until she turned eighteen, I wanted her to find some answers to her past to have that closure and move on with her future. The suspense in this story is quite a page-turner. She showed that she was a strong woman and quick thinker.

By Lydia Emma Niebuhr,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Sand Dancer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Two-year-old Carrie Morton was found alone in a cabin behind the man the county sheriff had just shot to death. Although a game warden reported seeing a woman at the cabin, the woman was never found. The woman's identity and disappearance remained the subject of rumors that followed Carrie as she moved through a series of foster homes on her way to adulthood.

After Carrie left her last foster home, she remained in Sanstone, living a life without close ties to anyone. Her treasured moments were on a small section of the beach where she could be alone and escape…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in foster care, zoos, and film?

Foster Care 54 books
Zoos 20 books
Film 237 books