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Dear Lola: Or How to Build Your Own Family
When ten-year-old Annie, her twin brother and four other kids run away from St. Theresas, a home for orphans, they vow to stick together no matter what. But some of their new neighbors notice that there are no grownups in the family. Can the kids cover their tracks without uncovering the truth?
180 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Judie Angell
25 books15 followersBest known for her books under the name Judie Angell, Judie Angell Gaberman (Also wrote under pseudonyms Fran Arrick and Maggie Twohill) writes novels which blend serious emotions with humorous circumstances to explore both common and unique issues that young people face--in their families, with their peers, and with authority figures. Most of Angell's protagonists are experiencing transitions, and they tend to be clever and creative in meeting the challenges involved in moving toward adulthood.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 19, 2019
A reread, read aloud four years after the first reading.
We didn't expect to love this book as much as we did. The characters really grew on us and we enjoyed the way the story doesn't tell you much information at first so lets you piece together the story as you go.
The characters were wonderful, we loved the resourceful way they dealt with unwanted visitors and their creative thinking in making a grandad and the way they all had their areas of expertise to keep the household together. We admired their positive approach to staying together, household chores and learning.
Towards the end you find out more and you think this story is going to be wrapped up neatly but it keeps you guessing right up until the end. We loved the way Molly gets her wish and how Lola says and how one of the characters becomes vegan at the end (see if you can guess who that will be).
A lovely heartwarming story with realistic characters who have realistic problems and a very satisfying but not predictable ending!
4.5 stars
We bought a copy of this book but it is available on openlibrary
We didn't expect to love this book as much as we did. The characters really grew on us and we enjoyed the way the story doesn't tell you much information at first so lets you piece together the story as you go.
The characters were wonderful, we loved the resourceful way they dealt with unwanted visitors and their creative thinking in making a grandad and the way they all had their areas of expertise to keep the household together. We admired their positive approach to staying together, household chores and learning.
Towards the end you find out more and you think this story is going to be wrapped up neatly but it keeps you guessing right up until the end. We loved the way Molly gets her wish and how Lola says and how one of the characters becomes vegan at the end (see if you can guess who that will be).
A lovely heartwarming story with realistic characters who have realistic problems and a very satisfying but not predictable ending!
4.5 stars
We bought a copy of this book but it is available on openlibrary
March 3, 2012
I LOVED this book as a kid. I thought it was a wonderful story about a family doing everything they can to stay together. Sure it isn't a blood family, but they are a family. Ever member tries to contribute and keep themselves off the radar from adults who think they know better. The amount of responsibility for the oldest of them seemed overwhelming to me. It scared me and made me wonder what it would be like to be an adult. Looking back now, I see that there is a reason why adults are needed to make a stable family unit. Regardless, I loved this book.
March 2, 2008
This was easily one of the most influential books of my childhood. DIY family/construction& plumbing/dealing with the crap that life throws at you when it comes. Read it. I don't care how old you are.
October 13, 2025
I had high hopes for a group of kids in group home setting out to find a home of their own. The oldest is 18, and has a decent income as an advice columnist as "Dear Lola" although Lola is actually a boy. The other kids are ones who are unadoptable, returned again and again; for instance, the main protagonist, Annie, and her twin brother, keep getting chosen separately, and then are as bad as possible so that they will be returned to the group home. Now 18, "Lola" has enough money to support them, so they decamp and set out to find a house of their own, which they do. It is ramshackle, but they set to work to fix it up, and have a happy summer. But then school starts, and things start going south. This is where I was disappointed--I wanted lots more time in the happy summer with lots more house fixing and gardening, and instead I was plunged into mean kids and suspicious adults. In the end, the truth about this unusual family comes out, including Lola's real identity (and bam goes the family income) and they set off to become migrant works in California while Lola writes his memoir. Which is another disappointment, because I'm not sure this is a great situation for the kids although Annie is happy and the found family is together.
June 11, 2021
Loved this book as a kid, still love it as an adult.
Is it entirely realistic for ten year olds to teach themselves how to be plumbers and electricians, simply by reading books? Probably not. But then I think of the kids in Dickens novels, and how much more resilient you have to be when no one else is going to ride in on a white horse and take care of you, and I think...hey, maybe it's possible. They certainly all wanted it enough, and worked hard to achieve their dreams.
Their collective dream is a simple one, really: to build a family. One made out of the people they choose, constructed solidly enough to last forever.
Annie, one of the 10 year old twins, narrates the story of how their unconventional, socially unacceptable family was formed. She and four other kids - plus 18 year old Lola - fled from their orphanage late one night, spending a couple months on the road and eventually settling down in a small town where they could buy a house and be left in peace. Or so they thought.
The problem with small towns is that everyone notices everything - and the first thing newcomers have to deal with is someone butting into their business. None of these kids really fall into the category of "normal," so every single one of them sticks out like a sore thumb.
When I was younger, I was delighted by the issues that made each of them unadoptable. 9 year old Edmund regularly throws temper tantrums, stripping off all his clothes and screaming at the top of his lungs. 13 year old James refuses to leave his room - ever. 5 year old Ben will eat anything he can fit into his mouth, including keys, toys, paperclips, buttons, and barrettes. And the twins, Annie and Al-Willie, will do absolutely anything to ensure they remain together, including pretending to be lions and biting their foster parents.
Everything I found hilarious as a kid is pretty sad now - still effective, but in a different way. As a judge later points out, each one of their issues stems from deeper problems that Annie (as a 10 year old and thus limited narrator) doesn't dig into. James, in particular, has some pretty intense trauma that he won't talk about with anyone, and that we still don't know by the end of the book - only the judge does, thanks to a very long letter that swayed him a little, but not enough for it to matter.
This is a fantasy story in some ways, but it's also pretty realistic. It's not all that easy to get - or to keep - a happy ending. But they do their best.
The problem, you see, is two-fold:
1. No one wants to adopt, or foster, more than one kid, which means that the twins are constantly separated. If two kids are impossible, then all six of them winding up in one house is completely off the table, as long as they follow the rules and let other people make their decisions for them.
2. These kids aren't "normal". They don't want to be, and they know from a lot of painful, traumatic experience that anyone who takes them in will force them to fit into molds that range from uncomfortable to unbearable.
So their solution, if they can't find a family that will allow them to be true to themselves, is to make their own. And it works, for a while.
Lola, who's been on his own since he was very small, makes a decent amount of money by writing a nationally syndicated advice column. (Basically Dear Abby.) No one suspects that this highly popular advice is coming from an 18 year old orphan, and as long as that remains a secret, Lola (actual name: Arthur) can continue earning a living that allows him to buy a house and take care of all the kids he's not legally able to adopt.
The rest of the kids pull their weight, too. They study on their own and with Lola's help, learning everything from cooking to plumbing to electrical wiring - anything they'll need to get their rundown new house in shape and to keep it that way.
And, at Lola's insistence, they go to school and do their best to fit in. Unfortunately, that's where they fail, and from the start, the most influential townspeople have it out for them. So when things fall apart, in a devastating scene that made me squirm a lot more this time around, they have to make some more decisions. Do they put their fate in the hands of the court, trusting that a judge will rule in their favor, or do they run again? And if they run now, with their faces and all their secrets plastered all over the news, will they ever be able to stop running?
I hadn't actually remembered the ending, so I held my breath through those last few pages. It's satisfying. It does make me want more. But it feels true to this story and these characters. This is a really unique, sensitively written book that I think deserves a readership nearly as wide as Lola's column.
Is it entirely realistic for ten year olds to teach themselves how to be plumbers and electricians, simply by reading books? Probably not. But then I think of the kids in Dickens novels, and how much more resilient you have to be when no one else is going to ride in on a white horse and take care of you, and I think...hey, maybe it's possible. They certainly all wanted it enough, and worked hard to achieve their dreams.
Their collective dream is a simple one, really: to build a family. One made out of the people they choose, constructed solidly enough to last forever.
Annie, one of the 10 year old twins, narrates the story of how their unconventional, socially unacceptable family was formed. She and four other kids - plus 18 year old Lola - fled from their orphanage late one night, spending a couple months on the road and eventually settling down in a small town where they could buy a house and be left in peace. Or so they thought.
The problem with small towns is that everyone notices everything - and the first thing newcomers have to deal with is someone butting into their business. None of these kids really fall into the category of "normal," so every single one of them sticks out like a sore thumb.
When I was younger, I was delighted by the issues that made each of them unadoptable. 9 year old Edmund regularly throws temper tantrums, stripping off all his clothes and screaming at the top of his lungs. 13 year old James refuses to leave his room - ever. 5 year old Ben will eat anything he can fit into his mouth, including keys, toys, paperclips, buttons, and barrettes. And the twins, Annie and Al-Willie, will do absolutely anything to ensure they remain together, including pretending to be lions and biting their foster parents.
Everything I found hilarious as a kid is pretty sad now - still effective, but in a different way. As a judge later points out, each one of their issues stems from deeper problems that Annie (as a 10 year old and thus limited narrator) doesn't dig into. James, in particular, has some pretty intense trauma that he won't talk about with anyone, and that we still don't know by the end of the book - only the judge does, thanks to a very long letter that swayed him a little, but not enough for it to matter.
This is a fantasy story in some ways, but it's also pretty realistic. It's not all that easy to get - or to keep - a happy ending. But they do their best.
The problem, you see, is two-fold:
1. No one wants to adopt, or foster, more than one kid, which means that the twins are constantly separated. If two kids are impossible, then all six of them winding up in one house is completely off the table, as long as they follow the rules and let other people make their decisions for them.
2. These kids aren't "normal". They don't want to be, and they know from a lot of painful, traumatic experience that anyone who takes them in will force them to fit into molds that range from uncomfortable to unbearable.
So their solution, if they can't find a family that will allow them to be true to themselves, is to make their own. And it works, for a while.
Lola, who's been on his own since he was very small, makes a decent amount of money by writing a nationally syndicated advice column. (Basically Dear Abby.) No one suspects that this highly popular advice is coming from an 18 year old orphan, and as long as that remains a secret, Lola (actual name: Arthur) can continue earning a living that allows him to buy a house and take care of all the kids he's not legally able to adopt.
The rest of the kids pull their weight, too. They study on their own and with Lola's help, learning everything from cooking to plumbing to electrical wiring - anything they'll need to get their rundown new house in shape and to keep it that way.
And, at Lola's insistence, they go to school and do their best to fit in. Unfortunately, that's where they fail, and from the start, the most influential townspeople have it out for them. So when things fall apart, in a devastating scene that made me squirm a lot more this time around, they have to make some more decisions. Do they put their fate in the hands of the court, trusting that a judge will rule in their favor, or do they run again? And if they run now, with their faces and all their secrets plastered all over the news, will they ever be able to stop running?
I hadn't actually remembered the ending, so I held my breath through those last few pages. It's satisfying. It does make me want more. But it feels true to this story and these characters. This is a really unique, sensitively written book that I think deserves a readership nearly as wide as Lola's column.
December 30, 2007
Six children, ranging in age from 5 to 18, run away from the orphanage and try to establish a household as a family, and are doing quite well until local do-gooders begin investigating. Great story!
May 20, 2009
An absolutely fabulous story, read so many times when I was 9 or 10 or so. Bought at a library sale and I am so glad, as I've never seen it anywhere else since!
re-read March 25th 2016 and as an adult I find I do not like the ending!
re-read March 25th 2016 and as an adult I find I do not like the ending!
June 16, 2013
Six kids form a unique family of their own and fight to keep it. I really loved the aspect of each kid becoming an 'expert' on some aspect of the upkeep of their home - with one kid cooking, one handling home repair, etc. Really great self-sufficiency story!
May 23, 2011
I liked this book. It's about these kids who run away from the orphanage and buy there own house and live there without a parent. Will they get caught? Read the book and find out!!!!
July 3, 2026
This is "A Tale by Judie Angell" which clues you in to its fairy tale nature.
Our narrator is 10-year-old Annie. Annie, her twin brother, and four other kids run away from a children's home and school to live together as they wish. The eldest, Arthur, has recently turned 18 and somehow has an anonymous *syndicated* newspaper advice column, "Dear Lola," so he makes enough money for a down payment on an abandoned house in a small town several states away. I love that he insists they educate themselves on all things house-related (Annie takes care of the plumbing), that he registers them for school, that he wants to do everything the legal way. Simultaneously, he leads the townspeople to believe there's a elderly grandpa in the house who has guardianship.
The story emphasizes that these are troublesome kids bounced around foster care, but together they accept each other's needs and quirks. They are allowed to be themselves, and figure out how to work together to create a stable household. There's even James, a 13-year-old whom Arthur homeschools because James simply needs to be by himself and indeed stays in his room most of the time. But he is still a valued, respected member of the family.
Is it believable? Of course not. If even the people who employ Arthur don't know he's an 18-year-old boy, how was he getting paid? How does Ben eat all those items without needing medical care? But is it fun? Sure.
Our narrator is 10-year-old Annie. Annie, her twin brother, and four other kids run away from a children's home and school to live together as they wish. The eldest, Arthur, has recently turned 18 and somehow has an anonymous *syndicated* newspaper advice column, "Dear Lola," so he makes enough money for a down payment on an abandoned house in a small town several states away. I love that he insists they educate themselves on all things house-related (Annie takes care of the plumbing), that he registers them for school, that he wants to do everything the legal way. Simultaneously, he leads the townspeople to believe there's a elderly grandpa in the house who has guardianship.
The story emphasizes that these are troublesome kids bounced around foster care, but together they accept each other's needs and quirks. They are allowed to be themselves, and figure out how to work together to create a stable household. There's even James, a 13-year-old whom Arthur homeschools because James simply needs to be by himself and indeed stays in his room most of the time. But he is still a valued, respected member of the family.
Is it believable? Of course not. If even the people who employ Arthur don't know he's an 18-year-old boy, how was he getting paid? How does Ben eat all those items without needing medical care? But is it fun? Sure.
September 1, 2019
I was obsessed with books that had a theme of running away around age 11-12. It wasn't because my parents were awful; I think I was just longing for independence at that age. I really loved this, read it first from the library and then bought my own copy through a Scholastic (I think) book fair at the time.
May 31, 2020
A book I remember from my childhood. What happens when 6 kids run away from an orphanage to form their own family? They find a large house and then each has their own specialty to help fix up the house and live. One learns plumbing, another electricity, or cooking, etc. Everything goes along okay until the neighbors get too nosy...
April 12, 2019
Although an unlikely story about an 18 year old boy named "Lola" (for his advice column) raising 5 orphaned children, I really enjoyed it. It was very simple, yet suspenseful and humorous, and a book full of hope.
June 27, 2021
I loved this book when I first read it, and it held up well to a re-reading.
May 4, 2022
On the shorter end of book length, but packed full of meaning about family sticking together—even when they aren’t related through their blood.
July 16, 2023
Stumbled across the book in a used book store and bought it based solely on the title. Read it with my own Lola. Super cute read!
April 4, 2009
Six orphaned kids, age 5-18 run away from the orphanage and successfully set up a household until local do-gooders investigate.
November 19, 2017
I remember reading this book as a kid, and it pulled me in.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews