How do you face life without a place to call home? Anna Casey is learning to deal with the loss of her family and adjust to living in a foster home with Miss Dupree. Feeling abandoned and alone, Anna turns to her closest companion, her explorer journal filled with drawn maps of her earlier neighborhoods and all the places that she has called home. Anna is determined to become part of a real family, and with the help of a scrawny new friend named Eb, an unconventional biology teacher in cowboy boots, a homeless Vietnam vet, and a motley crew of kids from the neighborhood, Anna discovers a sense of belonging...and her own place in the world. With warmth and humor, award-winning author Adrian Fogelin follows up her critically acclaimed novel Crossing Jordan with the story of a young girl's trials and triumphs as she tries to find a home.
This book is the second in the series about the kids in a neighborhood in Florida (see "Crossing Jordan" for list). The main character is real preteen dealing with the uncertainty of the foster care system. It is a book about a girl who not only survives, but also builds a life for herself and thrives among an unlikely family. She is a character full of life and determination. A great read for 4th grade through beginning high school! This book is full of North Florida local color (the real Florida away from the glow of Disney World). I know because it is set in our town and she captures it to a T with all of its fun and quirkiness! It makes a great read aloud! My son begs me to read more each night!!
This book should not be judged by its cover !
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
I love the characters in this book. They have flaws and virtues and could all realistically exist in the pretend neighborhood of Anna Casey's world. (which is loosely based on a a very real neighborhood that is located a few blocks from the school where I am a media specialist.) Many of the students that have already read, "Crossing Jordan," eagerly read this second novel of Adrian Fogelin and enjoy it very much. Not only because they recognize characters from the first book, but because there is much adventure and character driven comedy in this book as well. I have always felt that the cover of this book did not reflect the quality of the story within. I noticed that the cover has been changed--but it is still a cover to attract elementary school girls--while there is much in this story to interest both elementary and middle school boys as well. I'd like to see the Vietnam vet portrayed with a wooded scene and the two main characters hiding from him on the cover. This book is well written and entertaining and still deserves a more intriguing cover.
Arian Fogelin does it again!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
This book was one of the best books I have ever read! In this book Anna and her friend Eb are living with a foster parent named Ms. Dupree and they are trying to fit into her environment! Other events also make this book interesting! This was such a good book I could not stop reading it!In the end Anna learns her place in the world!
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