The Foster Care System

I used to be very vocal about my dislike for the foster care system.  I am much less so now.  I think growing older, I have learned to hold my tongue.  My heart still aches at every story of a child being hurt in a foster home.  I still think that Nancy Schaefer's death is very suspicious.
But Touch Blue puts a positive light on the foster care system.  Mostly.  Well, maybe it gives a balanced POV.
An island town in Maine is going to have to close its school because there aren't enough students.  So the town decides to take in foster children.  Yeah...that kinda rubs me the wrong way...but the book addresses that, too.
The young boy who comes to live with Tess and her family has been through hell.  And the scene with his mother brought me to tears.  Really, really good book.

Half a Chance

is better than no chance at all.  That's not the phrase that is used in the book Half a Chance, but it is true.  The phrase in the book is, "Even half a chance beats none."
Anyway, that reminds me of the interview with an author that is on the end of of the audiobook of Bridge to Terabithia.  Katherine Paterson and her son David Paterson are interviewed and KP talks about how the reader really makes the book come alive.  Both KP and DP recall that many fans of the book have remembered the events in the story quite differently, made the story their own.  And they speculate that maybe that is why Bridge to Terabithia has had such staying power.  I was thinking about my dear friend Joanie when I heard the KP and the DP interview.  September will soon be upon us.  And September, to me, is the cruelest month.  This has nothing at all to do with Half a Chance.  Once I again, I just went completely off track. But since I am so far off track, I did include the Katherine Paterson and Lobster picture again!
So Half a Chance is by Cynthia Lord, author of Rules.  I gave five stars to Half a Chance, much better than what I gave to Rules, which was just three.  Rules was a Newbery Honor in 2007.  It seems odd to me that Rules would get an Honor and the excellent Road to Paris wouldn't get one.   While I have never read Hattie Big Sky, another book that got an Honor, instead of Road to Paris, I have to say that the Girl in a Sod House Guarantees Newbery Love Rule might have been at play here again.
Ahem.  
Sorry.  Half a Chance has nothing to do with sod houses, either!  This book is quite good and quite real and I wouldn't complain if it got an Honor this year, as long as Brown Girl Dreaming takes it all or at LEAST gets an Honor as well.

Rules are Rules

I've heard that a lot of places before but I don't know if it has an origin or it is just one of those things that everyone says, like, "You know what they say."

The last book I had to read for my class was Cynthia Lord's Rules.

Catherine is twelve years old and has a younger brother with autism. The the title of the book refers to the rules that she helps her brother learn as well as the rules that she makes for herself, to help them both navigate in the world. From "No toys in the fish tank." to "Solving one problem can create another." they are pretty good rules for everyone. She also has two guinea pigs, Nutmeg and Cinnamon and I remember starting to listen to this book years ago, but not finishing it because I was afraid that something terrible was going to happen to one of them. But nothing does. I guess that's a spoiler, but I think that it is one that people will appreciate.

I liked this book, but I didn't love-love it. I am not sure why. I think it was honest and true and the characters were great. I did REALLY dislike Catherine's new neighbor though. Catherine hopes that the new girl her age, who has just moved in across the street will be a good friend to her. Turns out she is more like Nancy Wheeler from the horrible Pre-Teen Sensations. The only thing that keeps Catherine's new neighbor from being able to join Margaret Manson and her gang of devil worshiping friends is that we get learn that she is upset over her parents' separation. She isn't just some rotten broad like those four dolts.

Catherine's story is a love story of sorts because love stories don't have to be the traditional kind. It is a love story between a brother and a sister. Catherine really loves her brother, but he is hard to live with sometimes. She feels guilty for considering her life with him to be difficult, knowing that his life is rough, too.

Catherine meets Jason, a young boy about her age at her brother's OT clinic and the two begin a relationship. Jason is in a wheelchair and can't speak, but uses a communication book to communicate. Catherine draws more words for his book.

This is a book great for discussion, full of depth, yet simple, but not in a bad way. I'm glad I read it. And glad the guinea pigs didn't die!