Foster Care Fiction for Young Readers
Discover heartwarming foster care fiction books for young readers. Explore inspiring stories of love, resilience, and family in this curated list of top foster care-themed novels for kids and teens.
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The Pinballs
by Betsy Byars
You can't always decide where life will take you--especially when you're a kid. Carlie knows she's got no say in what happens to her. Stuck …
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The Great Gilly Hopkins
by Katherine Paterson
Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she's disliked them all. She has a county-wide reputation for being …
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The Last Chance Texaco
by Brent Hartinger
The guy looked at me with a stare that would have frozen antifreeze. "You the new groupie, huh?" "Yeah," I said. "So?" "So no one …
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Pictures of Hollis Woods
by Patricia Reilly Giff
This Newbery Honor book about a girl who has never known family fighting for her first true home “will leave readers . . . satisfied” …
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Anna Casey's Place in the World
by Adrian Fogelin
For use in schools and libraries only. Anna, a twelve-year-old girl with strong survival instincts, tries to adjust to life in a Florida foster home …
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The Sorta Sisters
by Adrian Fogelin
In Florida, Anna Casey lives with what she hopes is the last in a long line of foster mothers, and Mica Delano lives with her …
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Grover G. Graham and Me
by Mary Quattlebaum
With compassion and wry humor, this moving story follows an 11-year-old boy'sjourney through the foster care system and describes how he forms a bond withthe …
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The Very Worst Thing
by Torey L. Hayden
David has never had a permanent home or a real friend, but when he decides to try to hatch an owl egg with the help …
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Finding Stinko
by Michael de Guzman
Having spent his life trying to escape the foster care system, eventually becoming mute to keep out of trouble, twelve-year-old Newboy finally hits the streets, …
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I'll Sing You One-o
by Nan Gregory
Twelve-year-old Gemma doesn’t know where to turn. She is being adopted by relatives she didn’t know she had. The foster family she has loved all …
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The Story of Tracy Beaker
by Jacqueline Wilson
First published: Great Britain: Doubleday, 1991.
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Gossamer
by Lois Lowry
While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the …
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The Boy From the Basement
by Susan Shaw
For Charlie, the cold, dark basement is home. Father has kept him locked in there as punishment. Charlie doesn’t intend to leave, but when he …
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Locomotion
by Jacqueline Woodson
In a series of poems, eleven-year-old Lonnie writes about his life, after the death of his parents, separated from his younger sister, living in a …
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Peace, Locomotion
by Jacqueline Woodson
Through letters to his little sister, who is living in a different foster home, sixth-grader Lonnie, also known as "Locomotion," keeps a record of their …
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Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me
by Julie Johnston
“If you don’t want your heart broken, don’t let on you have one.” Sara Moone is an expert on broken hearts. She is a foster …
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The Mailbox
by Audrey Shafer
For readers of Unbroken and Flags of Our Fathers, The Mailbox is a sympathetic portrayal of veterans and the burdens they carry throughout their lives. …
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Holding Up the Earth
by Dianne Gray
Fourteen-year-old Hope visits her new foster mother's Nebraska farm and, through old letters, a diary, and stories, gets a vivid picture of the past in …
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The Handle and the Key
by John Neufeld
Dan is a shy foster child who has been moved from home to home, until the Know family adopts him permanently. Like a vivid assortment …
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Parents Wanted
by George Harrar
When 12-year-old Andy meets Laurie and Jeff at an adoption party, he has already been in eight foster homes. Andy s alcoholic mother has given …
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Ruby Holler
by Sharon Creech
"You are now entering Ruby Holler, the one and only Ruby Holler! Your lives are never going to be the same—" "Trouble twins" Dallas and …
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Where I'd Like To Be
by Frances O'Roark Dowell
A ghost saved twelve-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But …
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The Road to Paris
by Nikki Grimes
Inconsolable at being separated from her older brother, eight-year-old Paris is apprehensive about her new foster family but just as she learns to trust them, …
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Chance and the Butterfly
by Maggie De Vries
Having problems with all school subjects except science, Chance gets excited about going to school when a box of caterpillars and supplies needed to raise …
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Benni & Victoria
by Patricia H. Aust
In residential placement as a result of his mother's substance abuse, ten-year-old Benni travels back in time to befriend a nine-year-old girl during a diphtheria …
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You're Dead, David Borelli
by Susan M. Brown
David has always known wealth and comfort, but after his mother dies and his father absconds with company funds, David is sent to a foster …
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When the Road Ends
by Jean Thesman
Sent to spend the summer in the country, three foster children and an older woman recovering from a serious accident are abandoned by their slovenly …
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Returnable Girl
by Pamela Lowell
Friendship with an outcast classmate and memories of her mother's desertion interfere with the relationship thirteen-year-old Ronnie tries to establish with her new foster mother.
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Onion Tears
by Diana Kidd
Nam-Huong is miserable living in a new country without her beloved family. Then why can't she cry? Vietnamese Nam-Huong wants to adjust to her new …
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Team Picture
by Dean Hughes
Trying to hold onto the newfound stability of his life in a foster home, thirteen-year-old David worries about the growing moodiness of his guardian Paul …
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Dancing Through the Snow
by Jean Little
The story of an abandoned dog helping an abandoned girl open her heart.
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The Monster in Me
by Mette Ivie Harrison
The Monster in Me, is the story of a troubled thirteen-year-old girl named Natalie Wills. Natalie's mother has just gone into a drug rehab program, …
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Nightwalkers
by Judy K. Morris
After a school trip to the Washington zoo, ten-year-old James becomes so attached to Daisy, an orphaned African elephant, that he jeopardizes his placement in …
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Heads, I Win
by Patricia Hermes
In this sequel to "Kevin Corbett Eats Flies," Bailey runs for class president hoping that popularity will secure her place in her current foster home.