What do You think about Where I'd Like To Be (2004)?
What would you think if you were told that a ghost saved your life when you were an infant? Well, that's what Maddie's Granny Lane claims. Now 12, Maddie is living at the East Tennessee Children's Home, so she tries to feel as if she's special. It's difficult, however, when you have been sent to different foster homes your whole life. She wants a home so badly that she makes a "book of houses," in which she gathers pictures of houses --- houses where she longs to live someday. One day, a new girl named Murphy comes to live at the East Tennessee Children's Home. Her mind is filled with magical tales about exotic travels, being able to fly, and boys who recite poetry to horses. Maddie they become really good friends. Then one day, while Ricky Ray, Maddie's friend, is visiting her, Maddie decides to show Murphy her precious scrapbook. Murphy eventually comes up with an idea to build a fort.
—Ayanna
I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it either. As I was reading it, I felt like I knew what was going on in the story, but it still took me several days to read it because it was so predictable. Through the whole thing, I felt like I knew what was going to happen. That's not saying that I don't think it's a good story, because it is. I think any child in foster care or who has been adopted can easily relate to this story. However, I also feel like it puts a blanket over the many things that happen in the foster care system, just based on other books I have read. Overall, though, I think it is a good book for younger readers just to introduce the subject to them so they can realize what it is like to be in foster care, or relate to the characters if they themselves have been in foster care.
—Amber
I really liked this novel about kids in a group foster care home, longing for permanent and loving homes. Each character has a backstory, and each of those is equally poignant. That includes the kids whom they meet at school, whose lives they envy, but perhaps too quickly.Maddie's scrapbooks are both blessing and curse, as she chronicles the types of houses she likes, and as other kids use them to weave magical tales involving their absent parents. It is the simple fort they build that binds them together. Truth will out in this story, and its acceptance.A good read.
—Cornmaven
