by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Sitting in the back of the social worker’s car, I try to remember how my mother has always said to never show your fear.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Carley has lived with her mother in Vegas her whole life. It wasn’t terrific — they scraped by mostly — but they did okay the two of them. But then, Dennis came into their lives, they ended up in Connecticut, and after a horrible, horrible night, Carley has ended up in foster care.

Enter the Murphys — husband, stay-at-home-mom, three boys — who are everything a Perfect Happy Family should be. Carley has no idea what to do with that, or how she fits in this situation. She wants to go back to her mom, but she’s not sure how to make that work. And yet, the appeal of  the strength of a happy family and a “normal” life is huge.

I only  have one thing to say about this: it’s wonderful. I loved that there was a strong, amazing mother figure in the story, someone who knew how to love and understand and wasn’t all drugs and alcohol and neglect. Sure, there was that, too, and sometimes I hated Carley’s mother for that. But I was glad for the normalness of the story. And the quiet strength that comes from giving so completely to another human being.

In fact, it made me cry, which caught me off guard. But a child who is well and truly loved? That’s a beautiful thing. And this is a beautiful book.