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Fostergirls
Her name is Sadie, but she might as well be called Fostergirl. Grouphomegirl. That’s how everyone thinks of her. Sadie doesn’t care. In fact, she’d be happier if they didn’t think of her at all. Her goal is to go unnoticed, to disappear. Nothing good comes from being noticed, especially if you’re a fostergirl. Another new high school, another new group home – number 13, but who's counting. But this time there’s a girl at her school named Rhiannon, who won’t let her be invisible – who insists on being her friend – and who might be able to restore Sadie’s belief in others, and maybe even herself.
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2011
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96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 31, 2011
I received this ARC complementary from Second Story Press
Fostergirls by Liane Shaw is a novel about a girl named Sadie who grew up in foster-care, jumping from “pseudofamily” to “pseudofamily” until being placed in a group home. This is the story of her thirteenth attempt at dealing with a new school, new guardians and a new roommate.
The first-person perspective is what makes the book for me. Being inside Sadie’s mind is the best way to understand her avoidance of friendship and her difficulties with school work. From the very first chapter Shaw had me interested in the point of view with this description of the school system:
“big boxes filled with lots of little slots where all the kids have fit neatly. If you don’t just slide into place, you get squished and rolled around like a lump of Play-Doh until they figure out a way to squeeze you in. Or they just give up and send you off to another box with the same size slots that you still don’t fit into.” (Shaw 1-2)
Sadie’s descriptions of people and organizations are always like this, colourful, entertaining and down right depressing!
This is an important novel for anyone to read, but I’m going to outline what different people will probably get out of it.
Librarians/teachers: Our own love of reading makes it baffling sometimes how much some teens hate books. Since reading and writing are some of our strongpoints it can be hard to relate to those who find it impossible. Despite how much I read now I had trouble learning how to, and I later worked in an office for students with disabilities, so I already had some idea about this struggle. Shaw opens the disability up to me in ways I never considered. Reading the learning disabled’s point of view can help us help them.
Teens in foster care or with difficult home lives: If you’re tired of reading about spoiled princesses and snobby beauty queens who complain about their parents rules, or the pressures of being popular- here is a story you can relate to more. Sadie isn’t a hero who saves the world, she’s a down-to-earth street smart girl who’s just trying to survive. She knows the difficulties of hunger, neglect, abuse and abandonment but she perseveres.
Teens with learning disabilities: This is a book that might give you ideas about what would help you succeed in school. Even if you are already receiving this help it could be nice to read a book that clarifies the fact that your difficulty learning doesn’t indicate a lower intelligence.
Teens in great homes with a natural aptitude for school: This book will help you understand people you may know but not KNOW. I hope it will discourage you from giving them a harder time than they already have.
Fostergirls by Liane Shaw is a novel about a girl named Sadie who grew up in foster-care, jumping from “pseudofamily” to “pseudofamily” until being placed in a group home. This is the story of her thirteenth attempt at dealing with a new school, new guardians and a new roommate.
The first-person perspective is what makes the book for me. Being inside Sadie’s mind is the best way to understand her avoidance of friendship and her difficulties with school work. From the very first chapter Shaw had me interested in the point of view with this description of the school system:
“big boxes filled with lots of little slots where all the kids have fit neatly. If you don’t just slide into place, you get squished and rolled around like a lump of Play-Doh until they figure out a way to squeeze you in. Or they just give up and send you off to another box with the same size slots that you still don’t fit into.” (Shaw 1-2)
Sadie’s descriptions of people and organizations are always like this, colourful, entertaining and down right depressing!
This is an important novel for anyone to read, but I’m going to outline what different people will probably get out of it.
Librarians/teachers: Our own love of reading makes it baffling sometimes how much some teens hate books. Since reading and writing are some of our strongpoints it can be hard to relate to those who find it impossible. Despite how much I read now I had trouble learning how to, and I later worked in an office for students with disabilities, so I already had some idea about this struggle. Shaw opens the disability up to me in ways I never considered. Reading the learning disabled’s point of view can help us help them.
Teens in foster care or with difficult home lives: If you’re tired of reading about spoiled princesses and snobby beauty queens who complain about their parents rules, or the pressures of being popular- here is a story you can relate to more. Sadie isn’t a hero who saves the world, she’s a down-to-earth street smart girl who’s just trying to survive. She knows the difficulties of hunger, neglect, abuse and abandonment but she perseveres.
Teens with learning disabilities: This is a book that might give you ideas about what would help you succeed in school. Even if you are already receiving this help it could be nice to read a book that clarifies the fact that your difficulty learning doesn’t indicate a lower intelligence.
Teens in great homes with a natural aptitude for school: This book will help you understand people you may know but not KNOW. I hope it will discourage you from giving them a harder time than they already have.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 20, 2016
Grade: A-
Fifteen-year-old Sadie aka fostergirl is now living in a group home, her thirteenth placement, hoping lay low and become emancipated at sixteen. The universe has other plans. Her caseworker and school counselor think she can do better. An annoying girl wants to be her friend. And the other grouphomegirls are all up in her business, trying to get to know her. Sadie's plans to remain invisible have hit a serious road block.
Sadie's hard nose and bad attitude are understandable. She's got plenty of reason not to trust. She's can be self centered and unkind, but she has some qualities that made me empathize with her and pull for her to give people a chance. I've worked with foster kids before and Sadie felt authentic. Her friend Rhiannon was a hoot. Everyone knows a motormouth who just keeps going and going and going. Annoying, but lovable. She was a bit too Pollyanna to be completely believable, but I enjoyed her immensely.
Liane Shaw writes with authentic voice and I believed a teen was telling her own story. I especially liked the inclusion of learning difference testing and educational interventions as so many foster kids fall through the cracks of diagnosis and support.
THEMES: foster children, family, siblings, school, trust, friendship
FOSTERGIRLS is an emotional, authentic glimpse into the struggles and challenges foster children face in their placements and schools.
Fifteen-year-old Sadie aka fostergirl is now living in a group home, her thirteenth placement, hoping lay low and become emancipated at sixteen. The universe has other plans. Her caseworker and school counselor think she can do better. An annoying girl wants to be her friend. And the other grouphomegirls are all up in her business, trying to get to know her. Sadie's plans to remain invisible have hit a serious road block.
Sadie's hard nose and bad attitude are understandable. She's got plenty of reason not to trust. She's can be self centered and unkind, but she has some qualities that made me empathize with her and pull for her to give people a chance. I've worked with foster kids before and Sadie felt authentic. Her friend Rhiannon was a hoot. Everyone knows a motormouth who just keeps going and going and going. Annoying, but lovable. She was a bit too Pollyanna to be completely believable, but I enjoyed her immensely.
Liane Shaw writes with authentic voice and I believed a teen was telling her own story. I especially liked the inclusion of learning difference testing and educational interventions as so many foster kids fall through the cracks of diagnosis and support.
THEMES: foster children, family, siblings, school, trust, friendship
FOSTERGIRLS is an emotional, authentic glimpse into the struggles and challenges foster children face in their placements and schools.
June 30, 2019
I will admit I found this book a little tough to relate to mostly because I have had no contact with the foster system that being said I was able to relate to other themes such as having a learning disability and also the accident.
I found this to be an excellent filler book that I picked up at the library. It was honest and I love Sadie's sense of humor.
I found this to be an excellent filler book that I picked up at the library. It was honest and I love Sadie's sense of humor.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2024
Couldn’t put it down.
Loved seeing the world through Sadie’s mind.
Loved seeing the world through Sadie’s mind.
October 25, 2011
I liked the way that in this book Sadie, who is in the foster care system and newly living at a group home for girls, is portrayed in a way that realisticly fits with how guarded she is emotionally. Unfortunately, that can leave her at times a little stiff seeming because she isn't in tune with her emotions. However, we do see her grow, even if she doesn't realize it, through her actions as she makes connections with people.
This book could go a long way toward teaching compassion and admiration for those who succeed despite struggles with life situations or with learning disabilities. It also seems to both show and explain the reasons for Sadie's low self esteem & her belief that she is stupid. Well worth the read for anyone who is interested in social issues.
One thing to be aware of is that it does mention why some of the the kids are in the foster care system, which does contain some mature themes (i.e. parental drug/alcohol abuse, child sexual abuse, suicide, etc.). It is not graphic, but simply spoken about in a realistic way as teens might talk to one another (clean language though).
This book could go a long way toward teaching compassion and admiration for those who succeed despite struggles with life situations or with learning disabilities. It also seems to both show and explain the reasons for Sadie's low self esteem & her belief that she is stupid. Well worth the read for anyone who is interested in social issues.
One thing to be aware of is that it does mention why some of the the kids are in the foster care system, which does contain some mature themes (i.e. parental drug/alcohol abuse, child sexual abuse, suicide, etc.). It is not graphic, but simply spoken about in a realistic way as teens might talk to one another (clean language though).
July 30, 2012
Sadie thinks of herself as "fostergirl". That's what she gets called at all the new schools. She's on home number 13 and it's a group home. So now she's "grouphomegirl". She's almost 16 and she wants to become emancipated and work and live on her own. She doesn't know anything about her family and she hates school. All the pseudomoms pretend to be nice to her until she gets in trouble, then she's off to the next family. She knows how it goes and this time won't be any different. Except now there aren't any pseudomoms - just employees hired to watch out for her. A lot more honest, in her opinion. And then she meets Rhiannon, who doesn't seem to notice that she's "fostergirl". Maybe this time will be different.
This was a very good story. Sadie is believable - she is just trying to protect herself. Everyone knows someone like Rhiannon - always talking and up on what's happening to everyone. The book ends on a hopeful note, but not wrapped up with a bow. A believable ending. A good book for teens whether in foster care or not.
This was a very good story. Sadie is believable - she is just trying to protect herself. Everyone knows someone like Rhiannon - always talking and up on what's happening to everyone. The book ends on a hopeful note, but not wrapped up with a bow. A believable ending. A good book for teens whether in foster care or not.
May 5, 2012
Not a great book in my opinion. The storyline was good, Sadie is a "foster girl" who has been shuffled from place to place. She hates school, has no friends and trusts no one. With the help of a guidance counsellor, and someone determined to be her friend and a new foster home she begins to know herself and feel some self worth. While I did enjoy the storyline, one that had a lot of potential and could have been much more helpful to teens possibly experiencing similar experiences and feelings it didn't live up to its potential nor was i fond of the writing. While it is narrated by Sadie and therefore in her words, some of the words used in conversation and in her thoughts just didn't belong and sounded unbelievable. It was a quick read but not a memorable one.
January 12, 2014
I've been reading a lot of YA fiction that addresses issues teens face recently. This is an excellent example of what goes on inside the mind and heart of a kid in foster care: the barriers to hold back hurt and rejection, the lack of trust that prevents bonding with people who really care and the belief that nobody can like you because your own family discarded you. Sadie's stream of consciousness and way of looking at other people are very well done. This is a very good book to be added to school and public libraries where staff care about offering good 'bibliotherapy' resources to teens with issues in their lives.
November 24, 2016
Sadie has gone through foster home after foster home. She is now trying to show that she is responsible and can stay out of trouble, in hopes of becoming emancipated. As she tries the good girl routine, she receives push back from the other girls in her foster home and is drawn to the burn outs. However, the big ball of sunshine, Rhiannon, pushes Sadie to stay on the straight and narrow and wants to be her best friend. Sadie mistrusts Rhiannon and the concept of being the upstanding citizen she should be. She feels that she can be nothing more than what she considers to be a worthless fostergirl.
This is a decent novel about redemption. It is a quick read and the characters felt real.
This is a decent novel about redemption. It is a quick read and the characters felt real.
July 12, 2016
Sadie, after 12 different foster homes, is sent to a group home. She thinks of herself as fostergirl or grouphomegirl. She tries to stay detached from everyone around her, but a persistent classmate keeps insisting that they be friends. Sadie just wants to be legally emancipated so she can live on her own. She doesn’t know how to react when classmate Rhiannon is nice to her, or when the guidance counselor wants to help her. The book gives a realistic description of the hurt and destructive behavior that are the results of Sadie’s unstable childhood.
July 29, 2016
I sat down and actually read the whole book. Sometimes it was a little slow for me, but things always picked up. Good book for teens so they can learn what it would be like if they were in foster care. I think people can learn from this book, and I think it can teach a lot. This young foster girl never knew what to expect in life and knew not to take anything for granted because tomorrow could be different. Was a good read.
October 17, 2018
At the start of this book I thought that it was going to be boring since it was just talking about some girl living in several different pseudo homes and different foster homes (13 to be exact). But later on in the book Sadie decided to go to a party with a few of her friends from her new school, they chose one party but then went to a different one instead. while going across railroad tracks they got into an accident and this made the whole book better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2017
Not really spectacular in any way, but I thought there was something endearing about the main character despite her gruff, hostile exterior. It was a more solid story than many, and there aren't enough tales of foster children in YA.
January 1, 2014
Good; edgy. Not unlike The Language of Flowers, this also looks at the world of foster youth as well as foster parents/families. Ends on a hopeful note, but with much of the main character's future left to be resolved.
October 7, 2014
The story of the girl is a very sad thing due to her constantly moving from house to house and having no real family nor friends to understand her till she moves to her new home which brings me joy to see her get emotionally attached to a character and almost finally stop holding back her emotions.
February 3, 2014
Once I got into this book it was really hard to put down until I finished it. Very realistic portrayal of a teen in a group home - depressing, yet hopeful...
February 29, 2016
Good YA book about bullying, living in foster care, and learning disabilities.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews