I recently realized that here in the U.S. May is National Foster Care Month so I decided to read a book about foster care in support. The book I chose was Where I’d Like To Be by Frances O’Roark Dowell. It opens with Maddie, a twelve-year old living in the Elizabethton Children’s Home after it was decided she could no longer live with her Granny Lane. She does her best to behave and survive the best she can while also keeping an eye on her friend Ricky Ray. Now Ricky Ray is a six-year old also living in the children’s home. Together, they collect pictures of people and places as they dream about where they would like to lives. Then one day a new girl who goes by the name Murphy shows up and things start to change. Soon Murphy has got Maddie and Ricky Ray along with their new friends Logan and Donita actually acting on those dreams by building a fort in Logan’s backyard. As they do this disparate group of kids start to slowly turn into something more, something akin to a family.
I first came across this book years ago and for whatever reason it stuck with me. It is an incredibly sad, at times, but always incredibly moving story about what it means to be a kid and to dream. What makes this story stand out though is that these kids are dreaming about something completely different than most kids. Their dreams are more poignant because they are dreaming of something that everyone wants, needs, desires but that many of us overlook or take for granted. A home and a family. It is this dream that drives the photo collections that Maddie and later her friends under take. They are dreaming of what their home and their family might look like and these photos are their stand-ins. I say that because it is quite clearly exactly that. The youngest, Ricky Ray, likes to go through the photos and tell stories about all the women but he always uses his mom’s name when doing so. I think what this means is that this book is about looking for family but it is also, perhaps even more so, about a search for acceptance and belonging. To these kids that manifests as a home and a family because in many ways that is what they do not currently have. It is only later, when they start to realize that family is more than just blood relatives that you really start to see this though. This is an incredibly compelling story about growing up, trying to find yourself and in the process finding a chosen family. The emotional depth to these characters is great and I really enjoyed getting to know them over the course of the book. Each of these five kids comes from a different background and they each bring something different to the group and yet together they are an incredible group of kids. Something else I noticed is that this book feels incredibly realistic and honest, especially in its portrayal of the foster care system. Foster care is not entirely bad, despite popular media to the contrary, but it is also not all good and this book does a good job of showing that mix, that blend of good and bad. In my opinion, this book is phenomenal and a great book to read in support of National Foster Care Month. I am giving it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
This book is a kids book and would probably be classified as realistic fiction. If you are ever looking for a book to help raise awareness of life in foster care than I think this book is a pretty good choice for that. As I stated previously, this is a kids book and I saw nothing that would make me disagree with that. I will state that this is the kind of book that should not be restricted to only younger readers. Honestly, I can see readers of any and all ages coming away with something after reading this. In terms of genre it would probably be considered realistic fiction and would hold the most appeal to readers who prefer that genre. No matter how much I enjoyed it I can also admit that it would probably hold limited appeal to readers who prefer other genres. All I can really say is that it is a good book and one that I hope you consider reading even if it is not your preferred genre. If you are familiar with other good books about the foster care system consider recommending them in the comments. Who knows, I might start a special collection just for them.