For the child longing for a true home and a place to belong, this story follows a foster girl's journey to find family and connection through unexpected friendships.
For a child struggling with feelings of displacement, loneliness, or the specific challenges of foster care, this book offers a gentle and hopeful exploration of finding 'home.' The story follows twelve-year-old Maddie, who has lived in foster care her whole life and copes by collecting pictures of houses she wishes she could live in. Her quiet world at the East Tennessee Children's Home is turned upside down by the arrival of Murphy, a new girl full of imaginative, unbelievable stories. This character-driven novel for readers 9-13 beautifully explores themes of belonging, identity, and the power of friendship to create a family. It's an excellent choice for nurturing empathy and starting conversations about how home is a feeling, not just a place.
A secondary character's mother is said to have died in the past; this is discussed but not depicted.
Sensitive Topics
The book deals directly, yet gently, with the emotional realities of the foster care system, including feelings of abandonment, instability, and emotional neglect. It also touches on past parental death (a secondary character's mother died in a car accident). The approach is secular, with the 'ghost' story functioning as a piece of family lore that shapes Maddie's identity quest. The resolution is hopeful and realistic: while the children's external circumstances remain unchanged, they have found deep emotional security and belonging with each other.
Ideal Reader
The ideal reader is an introspective, sensitive child aged 10-12 who feels like an outsider, has experienced a big move, or is grappling with what 'home' means. It is particularly resonant for children in foster or kinship care, but its themes of finding your people will connect with any middle-grader who has ever felt lonely.
Parent Prep
The book can be read cold as its tone is gentle. No specific scenes require pre-reading. However, parents should be prepared for conversations about why children end up in foster care and the different ways a family can be formed. Page 11, where Maddie explains her 'Book of Houses,' is a great starting point for a discussion about what makes a home. A parent might reach for this book after their child expresses feelings of not belonging, saying things like "I don't have any real friends," or "I wish we lived somewhere else." The child might be spending a lot of time in solitary, imaginative play or expressing a deep desire for a friend who truly understands them.
Age Experience
A younger reader (9-10) will connect most with the friendship story, Murphy's enchanting tales, and the adventure of building a secret fort. An older reader (11-13) will more deeply appreciate the nuanced emotional landscape, the metaphor of building one's own home, and the subtle exploration of trauma and resilience in the foster care system.
What Makes It Special
Unlike many foster care novels that focus on systemic issues or a single placement, this book is unique for its quiet, lyrical tone and its focus on the collective agency of a group of children. The central metaphor of building a physical house to create an emotional home is concrete and powerful. The touch of magical realism through Murphy's character gives the story a unique, hopeful shimmer.
Read plot summary
Twelve-year-old Maddie lives in the East Tennessee Children's Home, feeling unremarkable despite her grandmother's story that a ghost saved her as a baby. She channels her longing for a home into a scrapbook of houses. Her life changes with the arrival of Murphy, a charismatic and imaginative girl who tells fantastical stories about her past. Murphy's energy inspires Maddie and other children at the home to secretly build their own 'house' in the nearby woods. This shared project helps them forge a powerful bond, and Maddie begins to understand that home is not a physical structure but the connection she shares with her new, self-made family.
This overview was generated by AI based on the book's content and reviews, and may not capture every nuance.
Discussion Prompts
1
Maddie keeps a 'Book of Houses' with pictures of places she'd like to live. If you made a book like that, what would be in it? What things, besides the building itself, make a place feel like home?
2
Murphy tells a lot of stories that might not be completely true. Why do you think she does this? Does it matter to Maddie and the other kids whether her stories are true or not?
3
The children decide to build their own house in the woods. What do you think this house symbolized for them? Why was it so important that they built it themselves?
4
At the beginning of the story, Maddie believes she is special because a ghost saved her. By the end, how has her idea of what makes her special changed?
5
At the end of the book, Maddie thinks about how Murphy feels like home. What does she mean by that? Can a person be a home?
