juvenile fiction / family / orphans & foster homes

"Before he defeated Jafar ... Aladdin was just a poor boy in streets of Agrabah. Twelve-year-old Aladdin has spent his entire life roaming the desert as a part of a tribe of nomads. He has nothing to his name except the stars in the sky, the clothes on his back, and a peculiar necklace left to him by his late mother. But that doesn't bother Aladdin--he doesn't want much. If he had three wishes, he would only ask for one thing: a home. A place to belong. When Aladdin is separated from his tribe in Agrabah, he feels drawn to the city's bustling streets. This is a place of possibilities, one that Aladdin might even be able to call his own. Facing a whole new world with magic lurking around every corner, Aladdin soon joins a group of "collectors" who teach him what it means to be a street rat. Aladdin will need to put those skills and his good heart to the test when whispers of a mysterious "diamond" catch up with him and threaten to destroy his new home"--.

In San Francisco, eleven-year-old Marin desperately searches for her birthmother knowing time is running out before she is adopted, and discovers for the first time in her life what it feels like to be truly wanted by someone.

"The Aunts have sent eleven-year-old Stella away to the moldering old family estate, Wormwood Mire, where she discovers two odd cousins and more clues to the mysteries of her family and of herself"--Provided by publisher.

"Alberto, the town's coffin maker, and Tito, a runaway boy, both lonely after suffering tragic losses, learn the power of friendship as they try to escape the shadows of their pasts"--Provided by publisher.

In nineteenth-century England, after her father's disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a "climbing boy," aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.

"An African-American middle schooler who has recently lost both his parents sees a ghost wearing old-fashioned clothing in the basement of the New York Public Library"--.

To escape rumored terrors in Kansas, New Yorkers Jack and Frances, eleven, and Frances's brother Harold, seven, jump off an orphan train in 1899 and help new friend Alexander to build Wanderville, a safe place for homeless children.

"From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are -- and deciding who you want to be. When Louisiana Elefante's granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn't overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana's life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town -- including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder -- she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana's and Granny's heads. But that is a story for another time.) Called "one of DiCamillo's most singular and arresting creations" by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale -- and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story."--.

In nineteenth-century England, after her father's disappearance Nan Sparrow, ten, works as a "climbing boy," aiding chimney sweeps, but when her most treasured possessions end up in a fireplace, she unwittingly creates a golem.

"A rumor that Blackbeard's buried treasure is somewhere near Tupelo Landing causes pirate fever to sweep through town just as clues about Mo's Upstream Mother surface and the Desperado Detectives--aka Mo LoBeau and her best friends Dale and Harm--take on the most important case of Mo's life"--.