Forever, or a Long, Long Time
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
3 starred reviews • A Kirkus Best
Book of 2017 • A New York Public Library Top Ten Books for Kids pick • An ALA
Notable Book • 2018 NCTE Charlotte Huck Honor Book
From rising star Caela Carter, author of My
Life with the Liars and How to Be a Girl in the World, comes a
captivating and heartfelt story about siblings who learn that love can never be
divided, only multiplied.
Flora and her brother, Julian, don’t believe they were
born. They’ve lived in so many foster homes, they can’t remember where they
came from. And even now that they’ve been adopted, Flora still struggles to
believe that they’ve found their forever home. Though Flora is trying her best
to trust two new people, when she finds out that there will be a new baby, she’s
worried that there won’t be enough love for everyone.
So along with their new mother, Flora and Julian begin a
journey to go back and discover their past—for only then can they really begin
to build their future.
Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead’s When
You Reach Me, Kathryn Erskine’s Mockingbird, and Ali
Benjamin’s The Thing About Jellyfish, this powerful novel about
love and family will inspire and delight readers of all ages.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This nuanced novel highlights the struggle to trust an adoptive family after a traumatic history in foster care. Even as 11-year-old narrator Flora and her younger brother settle into a comfortable life with adoptive parents, they think of themselves as the "Onlys": "Julian and me, the only steady things in the constantly shifting universe." Both siblings are dealing with the aftereffects of trauma, with Julian hoarding food and Flora struggling to pass fourth grade. The relationship between Flora and her "Person" (how she thinks of her adoptive mother) is especially compelling, and Carter (My Life with the Liars) believably illustrates that although the term "Person" sounds detached, it actually denotes a special status among Flora's many foster mothers. Flora's theories about her true origins, which appear between chapters, poignantly underscore her difficulty wrangling with a fractured history ("We came from the chaos, my brother and me. We were born out of the screams of other kids"). Carter's layered narrative which also touches on divorce, stepfamilies, and welcoming a new baby doesn't shy from pain as it testifies to resilience and the expansive power of love. Ages 8 12.
