Get out your Kleenex

I hardly ever, ever, ever get choked up at a book, but One for the Murphys by Lynda Mulally Hunt was an exception.  After being horrifically betrayed by her mother and abused by her stepfather, Carley is placed in a foster home: Mr. and Mrs. Murphy and their three sons.  She really doesn't want to be there and is convinced that she's not worthy of the love and respect shown to her, especially by Mrs. Murphy, who seems (to Carley) too good to be true.  Carley eventually warms up to the family and even makes a friend at school, but then...but THEN...she visits her mom in the hospital and no longer is sure of where she belongs - with her mom (stepdad is now out of the picture), whom she still loves but who got her in this foster situation?  With the Murphys, who offer a warm, safe environment?  Short chapters keep this book moving quickly, and Carley's first-person narrative will tug at your heart.

A definite keeper

The story starts off a little slowly, but patient readers will be rewarded for sticking with Keeper by Kathi Appelt.  Keeper is ten years old, and she's really excited about all sorts of special things that are going to happen the night of the next blue moon. But after accidentally ruining everything, Keeper thinks she'll feel better if she can talk to her mom, who swam away seven years ago, and who Keeper believes is a mermaid.  As Keeper sets out in a rowboat with BD (Best Dog) and Captain (a seagull), the story flashes back to significant events in her life; as the weather and water get worse, the truth of Keeper's history slowly dawns on her.  Sweet, haunting, hopeful, with a touch of magical realism...a beautiful story.

Normal never sounded so good

Sometimes the word "normal" sounds boring, but that's all 12-year-old Addie is looking for in Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor.  After her mother ("Mommers") gets divorced, the two of them move to a trailer in a busy part of Schenectady, New York.  Mommers has a good heart, but she's unreliable and sometimes disappears for days at a time.  Addie is amazingly independent and tries to make the best of bad situation by befriending Soula and Elliot from the nearby convenience store, working hard at her flute (a challenge because of her dyslexia), and keeping a close and heart-warming relationship with her ex-stepfather Dwight and two younger half-sisters.  My favorite line was when Soula said a hibiscus tree in the barbershop was like Addie, "willing to bloom in conditions [she] was never meant to encounter." 

Bet your summer isn't like this one

Your "what I did on my summer vacation" essay will probably never tell of an experience like that in One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. The year is 1968, and 11-year-old Delphine has been sent to Oakland, California, with her two younger sisters to spend a month with Celine, the mother she barely remembers. With no sign of a motherly bone in her body, Celine sends the girls to a community center run by the Black Panthers to spend every day, orders them out to pick up Chinese food for every dinner, and clearly tells her daughters, "No one told y'all to come out here." The story is told in the voice of Delphine, who is trying to care for her sisters, learning a new (to her) aspect of the black community, and hoping to gain some sign of affection from her mother. The humor of sisters bugging sisters blended with the serious historical information of a turbulent time make for a great read.