Age: 4th-middle school
Tough Issue: Foster care
First line: Sitting in the back of the social worker's car, I try to remember how my mother has always said to never show your fear.
Disabilities: Autism

A well-balanced perspective on being suddenly thrust into foster care, Carley Connors must cope with her mother's betrayal and try to live with a family of strangers. Hunt really provided a well-thought out presentation of a tween trying to figure out who to trust in her shattered world.

After her mother holds Carley down as Carley tries to flee from her abusive step-father, resulting in Carley and her mother in the hospital, Carley is put into a temporary foster home where she must wait until her mother gets better. While with the Murphys, Carley is pulled into their world and becomes attached to the children, but particularly attached to the mother--a considerate, overly sweet mother figure that she has never had.

Carley's emotional responses felt real, sometimes hostile, and well-developed while Hunt kept her likable in the reader's eye. This story also provides a welcome alternative to evil foster care situations and mean foster care mothers while maintaining a compelling story. The ending is far from ideal for the readers, but its realistic approach is commendable without completely sugar coating a real world situation.