Kids’ Fiction About Foster Care and Homelessness

Here are a few more recommended titles about these topics:

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. I read this book a l-o-n-g time ago. As I remember it, it’s about a wise-cracking foster kid and the foster mom who loves her anyway.

Homecoming and Dicey’s Song by Cynthia Voigt. These two books are about homelessness and being abandoned by a parent who can’t cope, and about four resilient children who bring as much to their new home with their grandmther as she gives them.

Heat by Mike Lupica. I just read this baseball-themed book for the Cybil Awards, and I really liked it. It’s bout two boys, brothers, who’ve lost both parents, and are trying NOT to get caught up into the foster care system. Semicolon review here.

Alabama Moon by Watt Key. A boy raised in the wilderness by a survivalist father runs away from a foster care facility. Semicolon review here.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. I’ve got to read this Newbery Award book soon. It’s about “Bud–“not Buddy”–Caldwell, an orphan on the run from abusive foster homes and Hoovervilles in 1930s Michigan,” according to Amazon.

The Pinballs by Betsy Byars. Three children in a foster home grow and learn to care about each other.

The Orphan Train series by Joan Lowery Nixon.
In The Face of Danger (Orphan Train Adventures)
A Place to Belong (Orphan Train Adventures)
A Dangerous Promise (Orphan Train Adventures)
A Family Apart (Orphan Train Adventures)
Keeping Secrets (Orphan Train Adventures)

Where the River Begins by Patricia St. John.

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff.

Gossamer by Lois Lowry. Semicolon review here.

The Road to Paris by Nikki Grimes.

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Carlson Savage. This title is written for younger children, and it’s not as contemporary as the other books on this list, but definitely worthwhile. It’s the story of three children and their mother who must live under a bridge in Paris after they’re evicted from their apartment. It’s also about the old tramp who becomes their adoptive grandfather in spite of his determination not to get involved with any “little birds.” (children who steal your heart)

More book suggestions on this same topic at Fuse 8.

One thought on “Kids’ Fiction About Foster Care and Homelessness

  1. Great list. Thanks! There’s something compelling about these types of books, even for kids who haven’t experienced foster care or homelessness.

    Another book about foster kids is Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech.

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