Orphans Home

When you're a pinball, life is a risky game, especially for three adolescent children placed in a foster home. Their hard-won defenses are firmly in place as these three uneasy strangers meet their foster parents. For each of these children who were failed by their families, caring for others is so scary it hurts. No one has been in control. But as their daily lives become dotted with fried chicken dinners, puppies, and birthdays, they begin to hope that even pinballs can be winners.

Hiding is Roo Fanshaw's special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment's notice. When her parents are murdered, it's her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life. As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn't believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing?

In Arcady's Goal, by Newbery Honor author Eugene Yelchin, for 12-year-old Arcady, soccer is life. Sent to live in a children's home after his parents are declared enemies of the state, he plays to win his dinner, and to maintain his sanity. When a visiting inspector decides to adopt him, Arcady questions his motivations. Who could want an enemy of the people as a son?

B has lived with so many different foster families and youth programs that they have to invent nicknames for them to keep track. Their parents died in a car accident when they were four, and they’ve been moved around ever since. And even though some foster families don’t really get B or why they haven’t picked a new name yet (though B has been grappling with that for a while), B tries their best to stay positive. They try to keep a list of names that might fit, and they dream of being able to live in a home where they could adopt a dog and teach him all sorts of tricks.

It’s a life-altering New Year for 13-year-old Lydia when she uproots to a Connecticut farm to live with her aunt following her mother’s death. Aunt Brat and her jovial wife, Eileen, and their ancient live-in landlord, Elloroy, are welcoming - and a little quirky. Lydia’s struggle for a sense of belonging in her new family is highlighted when the women adopt a big yellow dog just days after the girl’s arrival.

When Frey's teacher realizes that Frey is living alone, she contacts Child Protective Services, who put Frey into foster care. First in the Foster Heroes Series, Mom's Gone takes you through Frey's journey, and how he finally finds a home where he makes friends, and feels safe, until his mom can return home.

A local radio station is holding the Great Detective Race, and the Boxcar Children have entered the contest! They solve riddles and search all over town for clues leading to the grand prize. But when some of the clues turn out to be fake, it's clear that someone is playing unfairly! Who could be trying to ruin the race - and why?

Whitney has been in so many foster homes that she can give a complete rundown on the most common varieties of foster parents - from the look-on-the-bright-side types to those unfortunate examples of pure evil. But one thing she doesn't know much about is trees. This means heading for Foster Home number 12 (which is all the way at the top of the map of California, where there looks to be nothing but trees) has Whitney feeling a little nervous. She is pretty sure that the middle of nowhere is going to be just one more place where a hyper, loud-mouthed kid who is messy and small for her age won't be welcome for long.

Stanley Potts is just an ordinary boy, but when all the jobs in Fish Quay disappear his Uncle Ernie develops an extraordinary fascination with canning fish. Suddenly their home is filled with the sound of changing machinery and the stench of mackerel, and Uncle Ernie's obsession reaches such heights that he would even can Stan's beloved goldfish! Stan, however, has his own destiny, which leads him - via a hook-a-duck stall - to Pancho Pirelli, the blue-caped madman who swims with piranhas.

Twelve-year-old Lulu and her younger sister, Serena, have a secret. As Daddy always says, “it’s best if we keep it to ourselves,” and so they have. But hiding your past is one thing. Hiding where you live—and that your Daddy has gone missing—is harder. At first Lulu isn’t worried. Daddy has gone away once before and he came back. But as the days add up, with no sign of Daddy, Lulu struggles to take care of all the responsibilities they used to manage as a family. Lulu knows that all it takes is one slip-up for their secret to come spilling out.

Sally O'Malley is an orphan working at a mineral spring hotel in the woods of central Oregon—that is, until she's chucked out like chewed-on chicken bones, due entirely to an unfortunate incident with a pig and some church ladies. And so Sally decides to head west to the sea. Glorious, she's heard. Fierce, she's heard. Why not see for herself? Before long Sally encounters a dangerous bobcat—and that's just the first day! Safe in the knowledge that she's fearless, she continues on her journey with no place to belong and no one to depend on. And that's just fine with her.

Alone on a deserted island in Lake Michigan, five kids learn to survive. Ages five to thirteen, they are orphans and foster children who simply want a home. No one saw them stow away on the yacht. Nor did anyone see them climb overboard and into a life raft in the middle of the night. Armed with only the meager supplies in their pockets, they learn to fish and make a shelter and even hunt. Only twelve-year-old Karen knows Jesus as her Savior.

Ben Coffin has never felt like he fits in. A former foster kid, he keeps his head down at school to avoid bullies and spends his afternoons reading sci-fi books at the library. But that all changes when he finds a scruffy abandoned dog named Flip and befriends the librarian's daughter, Halley. For the first time, Ben starts to feel like he belongs in his own life. Then everything changes, and suddenly Ben is more alone than ever.

Twelve-year-old Pavi Sharma is an expert at the Front Door Face: the perfect mix of puppy dog eyes and a lemonade smile, the exact combination to put foster parents at ease as they open their front door to welcome you in. After being bounced around between foster families and shelter stays, Pavi is a foster care expert and runs a "business" teaching other foster kids what she's learned. With a wonderful foster family in mom Marjorie and brother Hamilton, things are looking up. Then Pavi meets Meridee: a five-year-old, who's getting placed at Pavi's first horrendous foster home.

Classic Starts: The stories are abridged; the quality is complete. The discovery of a neglected garden transforms the life of a sullen and unloved little girl-and everyone around her, too. When the newly orphaned Mary Lennox leaves her native India and arrives at her uncle's mansion in Yorkshire, everything seems strange to her. Then Mary hears of a mysterious garden where no one has set foot in 10 years. With the help of some new friends, she plans to uncover its secrets...and make it blossom once again.

Your church needs orphans as much as orphans need your church. Find out why and how you can get involved in Until Every Child Is Home.

Maggie Fishbone is not expecting much when she’s sent to the Midwatch Institute for Orphans, Runaways, and Wayward Girls—the last resort after causing a ruckus at the orphanage where she was living. Except . . . the Institute isn’t some dreadful, dreary place like she thought. Instead it’s full of curious girls training to solve mysteries, fight bad guys, and keep the city safe. In between fencing lessons and discovering all the shortcuts in the building, Maggie finds herself making friends at the Midwatch and finally feeling like she’s home.

Is it too much to ask for an ordinary, boring life? Bai Jian is a typical Chinese boy growing up in a big city. But his life is far from typical: his mother abandoned him when he was a baby, and his father, Hei Jian, is always out of work, always fighting with his long parade of girlfriends, always getting the two of them involved in some harebrained scheme.

Man smider da ikke børn i skraldespanden, tænker Kaja og hendes bror Lars, da de finder en lille nyfødt pige i en skraldespand. De beslutter sig for at tage sig af hende alene, så der ikke er nogen voksne, der kan svigte hende igen. Det bliver ikke nemt for de to søskende at holde pigen skjult for omverdenen - eller at finde ud af, hvor i alverden hun kommer fra... Den danske forfatter Bent Haller (f. 1946) er oprindeligt uddannet som maler og grafiker fra Det jyske Kunstakademi, men har desuden skabt sig en spændende karriere som forfatter.

At the turn of the century, there were many orphans, due in part to the fact that abortion was illegal, so women who had been indiscriminate or had other issues gave their children to the Catholics to raise in an orphanage. The nuns were good to the children, and the children enjoyed three wholesome meals each day, wore clean clothes, and slept in warm beds with 60 other boys in a dormitory. But when the good nuns had to deal with 500 boys, there was no time for love.