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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
"It's like when Mrs. Murphy kept trying to get me to try Hawaiian pizza. I thought it sounded gross. but I finally tried it, and I love it. I guess sometimes you don't know what you want because you don't know it exists." (p. 154)
After a violent encounter with her stepfather, Carley Connor's mother lands in the hospital and Carley winds up in foster care. Life at the Murphys is strikingly different than what Carley is used to with her mother's partying ways. This family is whole. They stick up for each other. They love each other. Carley sticks out like a sore thumb.
Over time, Carley begins to let her guard down and embrace this new lifestyle. She is tough and has experienced more than any 12-year-old should have to, but Mrs. Murphy's gently and loving ways break through the walls Carley has carefully constructed to protect herself. The place she once viewed as captivity has become the first true home she's ever known. But will it last?
One for the Murphys is a heart-rending story about love and family that will make you laugh and cry. The characters are well-developed and believable, the story is engrossing, the pace is perfect, and the conclusion is realistic.
After a violent encounter with her stepfather, Carley Connor's mother lands in the hospital and Carley winds up in foster care. Life at the Murphys is strikingly different than what Carley is used to with her mother's partying ways. This family is whole. They stick up for each other. They love each other. Carley sticks out like a sore thumb.
Over time, Carley begins to let her guard down and embrace this new lifestyle. She is tough and has experienced more than any 12-year-old should have to, but Mrs. Murphy's gently and loving ways break through the walls Carley has carefully constructed to protect herself. The place she once viewed as captivity has become the first true home she's ever known. But will it last?
One for the Murphys is a heart-rending story about love and family that will make you laugh and cry. The characters are well-developed and believable, the story is engrossing, the pace is perfect, and the conclusion is realistic.
Wow! This story was such a parallel to my own life. We decided to do foster care and thought we were getting a boy, just like this family did. The Murphy's ended up getting a girl, Carley Connors as their first foster placement. We ended up getting 2 girls for our first placement; sisters. The Murphy's had 3 children, we have 3 children. And all 3 of our children took to our foster girls in their own, unique ways just like the Murphy children.
In our lives, though, we had our foster girls for 18 months. The Murphy's only had Carley for about 90 days. I just love how much can change in such a short amount of time, though. I know this is fiction, but definitely possible as realistic fiction. Thank you, Lynda Mullaly Hunt for writing such beautiful characters.
In our lives, though, we had our foster girls for 18 months. The Murphy's only had Carley for about 90 days. I just love how much can change in such a short amount of time, though. I know this is fiction, but definitely possible as realistic fiction. Thank you, Lynda Mullaly Hunt for writing such beautiful characters.
well done young reader book about the tough topic of foster care. I wept.
If I could give this book 6 stars, I would.
When Carley Connors wakes up from her hospital bed and her mother is still unconscious, she must be placed in foster care. She is sent to live with Jack and Julie Murphy, along with their three boys: Daniel, Adam, and Michael Eric. Carley, who, until recently, was raised by a single mother in Las Vegas, finds the Murphys seemingly perfect life annoying. She at first resists all of the nice gestures that Julie makes for her, but eventually comes to long for her own mother to look at her as Mrs. Murphy does. News from her mother will startle the stability she has found in her new home and force her to choose what kind of life she is going to lead.
Spoiler-ish alert
So good... but be sure to have tissues close by...
So good... but be sure to have tissues close by...
I started ONE FOR THE MURPHYS as a read-aloud with my 12-year-old daughter. We'd barely gotten started when I had to leave home for a few days; by the time I got home again she had finished it. ("I'm sorry, Mom. I just couldn't stop reading.")
And now, after a heartbreaking and spirit-lifting single-sitting read over the Thanksgiving holiday (I couldn't stop reading either!), I've added the book to the very top of my gift-giving list for the holiday season. It's one of those books I wish I could buy for every kid. In the world. Most especially, I think, 12-year-old me.
And now, after a heartbreaking and spirit-lifting single-sitting read over the Thanksgiving holiday (I couldn't stop reading either!), I've added the book to the very top of my gift-giving list for the holiday season. It's one of those books I wish I could buy for every kid. In the world. Most especially, I think, 12-year-old me.
My daughter insisted I read this one as we read & loved “Fish in a Tree” so much. It was another terrific heartbreaker of a middle grade novel. The author really knows how to write about uncomfortable feelings & the inner lives of teens. I appreciate how with both books she’s shining the light on the kids who really struggle and allowing readers to really SEE them and empathize with their challenges and back stories. So needed.
Carley's mom did an AWFUL thing and she is removed from her home and placed with the Murphys. She has difficulty adjusting to this new life and how safe and loved she is. She feels like she is betraying her real mom. What happens when Carley's mom wants her back?
I struggled a bit with this one. While I think it's essentially a realistic and touching portrait of a neglected girl in the foster system learning what a family can really be like, I struggled to connect with Carley, and a lot of the action felt predictable and a bit contrived - the son's sudden illness, for example, that enables Carley to feel closer to her foster family. In particular, Carley's interactions with other kids felt unrealistic and her humor a bit forced. At its heart, I think there's a really solid story here, but I never felt entirely drawn into this world. I think it's a decent read, and one with an important story, but not one that I could get into.