Parents Wanted

by George Harrar

When 12-year-old Andy meets Laurie and Jeff at an adoption party, he has already been in eight foster homes. Andy’s alcoholic mother has given him up to the state as “too hard to handle,” and his father is in jail. Andy longs for a loving home and parents he can trust, but his attention deficit disorder, combined with the legacy of his dysfunctional parents, causes him to constantly challenge authority. He steals, destroys property, gets in trouble at school, tries to make a gunpowder bomb, and accuses Jeff, his soon-to-be father, of touching him inappropriately. To make matters worse, Andy’s real father shows up asking for money. But Andy’s new parents refuse to give up on him, and Andy must fight to save his soon-to-be-father’s reputation and his own chance at having a real family.

Genres: Adoption, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 2001

About the author

I write fiction for middle grade readers through adults and hold the distinction of having had three novels published by three different publishers for three different age groups in a single year. REUNION AT RED PAINT BAY (Other Press) is my latest book, about a newspaper editor in Maine and his family who engage in a full-scale psychological battle with a stalker without even knowing it. The novel was adapted in 2018 as a French-language film titled "Examen de Conscience." My earlier book, THE SPINNING MAN (Penguin), was also released in 2018 as a film starring Guy Pearce, Minnie Driver and Pierce Brosnan. It is available On Demand and on DVD. A new paperback edition of my novel with a film-theme cover was reissued by Amazon. For YA readers I wrote NOT AS CRAZY AS I SEEM (Houghton Mifflin) about a 15-year-old coping with his OCD "tendencies." PARENTS WANTED (Milkweed),for middle-grade readers, is my semi-autobiographical story of a 12-year-old boy's struggle to fit in with his adoptive family. Of my 12 published short stories, "The 5:22" won the Carson McCullers Prize and was selected for Best American Short Stories, 1999.

Reviews

[Kat Elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andy Fleck doesn’t’ have much of a family. His dad has been in jail since Andy was ten and his mother gave him up to the state as “too hard to handle”.
A kid with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Andy has learned one set of rules from his birth dad (how not to get caught) and another from the kids at the state-run home (how to manipulate adults). Placed with adoptive parents Jess and Laurie, he has a chance to escape his past. But he can’t keep himself from challenging every limit that is set. He plays “mailbox baseball” with Jeff’s Ted Williams bat, eat worms, gets in trouble at school, and when his birth dad shows up looking for money, steals Jeff’s wallet.
Despite his antics, it’s easy to see that Andy is a good kid dealing with his own tangle of emotions. And so far his adoptive parents have refused to give up on him. But will he go too far?

I’m not a fan of children literature or any literature books at all. I mean, novels and teen fictions are my interests. That’s why I don’t know what got me when I saw this book in one of the bookstores I hang around always. I just simply read the teaser of the book, which I included here above, and the next thing I knew was I’m in the counter and paying for this. Well, as unexpected how I bought this book is as unexpected how Andy Fleck revealed himself to me.
Maybe you have now an idea about how the whole story is because of the teaser I put in the first few paragraphs. But let me broaden your knowledge about this book. Let me caught your attention and interest.
Andy Fleck is a young boy who thinks of himself as young as he is. He does everything he wants and never thinks of the rules given to him. He doesn’t want following anyone’s limits or anything from anyone, because he thinks that he is independently in control of himself. But, there is one thing he really wants: Freedom – freedom from the state-run home, freedom from the rules and regulations of The Home, freedom from everyone. And for him to be able to get that freedom, he needs to be adopted by a family. But unfortunately, every time a foster family adopts him for holidays, they never wanted to adopt him fully, as in adopt him forever! They always tend to bring him back to The Home. That’s Andy, a naughty and careless young boy. Until he met the Andersons: Jeff and Laurrie. The moment Jeff talked to him; Andy knew that he should be the one to adopt him, not just on holidays but he wants them to change his name from Andy Fleck to Andy Anderson. Who will ever think how long does Andy can manage to live with the Andersons or vice versa? Will they adopt him for holidays or for forever?
For me, Andy is such a nice boy. He is lovely and amusing. He is smart and he knows how to justify his actions. He’s something more, even more than a kid for me. He thinks out of the box and sometimes, out-of-this-world. He is outrageous and everything. I can’t say those adjectives to a simple kid in Andy’s age but he deserves all of that. Parents Wanted became interesting for me because of the way the author introduced every inch of Andy Fleck. It is how Harrar touches the heart of the reader without having melodramatic scenes for Andy, but he has it in unique and humorous way. And every sequence of the story is unexpected, even every dialogue from each characters. Yes, I admit. I love Andy Fleck to death that even after reading this, I want more of him. I even missed him and thought, “Oh, I want to read that effin’ book again!!!” It’s inside me now, he is inside me now.
“A regular kid grows up with his parents and knows how much he can get away with before they’ll punish him. And the punishment is always something like grounding him or sending him to bed early. An adopted kid doesn’t know what the limits are. There’s always the chance that if he crosses the limit the punishment will be getting kicked out of the house.” – Andy Fleck
Would you just leave this book review and ignore the chance to know Andy? Bet you wouldn’t! Go and meet Andy – him and his superb journey towards wanting parents on his own and finding a real home. – MKL

[Naomi Kenorak · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Like I said, Mom and Dad didn’t take very good care of me. I should really have surrendered them, but that’s not how it works. Parents can walk into this place called DSS – that’s the Department of Social Services – and sign some papers and get rid of a kid they don’t want. But if the kid doesn’t like all the drinking and shouting at home, he’s stuck with the parents. That isn’t fair.”

This is a really good book. Adults considering foster adopt or adopting a child who was previously in foster care should definitely pick this up. Andy Fleck is so realistically portrayed you really do feel he is telling the story. He is a 12-year-old who has been through it all and has the conflicted loyalties, fabulously twisted logic, charm, and flawed decision-making process to prove it.

Andy wants to be adopted – but he also wants to be his own man. He doesn’t want anyone to tell him what to do, but he expects his new parents to care for his every whim. He knows all the tricks – how to use guilt and charm and sympathy, even how to cry abuse, to game the system. But he has little real concept of where his hurt is coming from or what all of this tricks will really get him. All he knows is that he’s been rejected before and he’ll probably be rejected again – so let’s get on with it. And yet, Andy is a good kid. They’re all good kids. And some few, like Andy, actually get the happy ending. Excellent and insightful.

[SJane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harrar does a great job of writing from inside the head of a child with ADHD. As a teacher, this helped me imagine the thought processes of some of my students and see that perhaps they really aren't doing things to intentionally tick me off... (on the other hand...)

[CraftyChara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Faith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy's dad is in jail. Both his parents have "surrendered their rights" which is a legal way of saying that they don't want him anymore. He has finally been put with new foster parents. They think he is a good, well behaved child, but they were wrong. Andy easily gets in to trouble.

Reasons why I like this book-

Reason 1- I felt as if I was there.

Reason 2- It explains the life of a foster child.

Reason 3- I couldn't stop reading.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book for anyone who works with kids, it gives a real insight to what they think and feel, especially when their lives are far from perftct.

[Danibel CANANRIO · Rating 4 out of 5]

i ,ove this book because it also talks about real life.this book it sabout this kid who is homeless and live in a shelter people come and take him nut keep on passing him on and on

[Leon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very sad. What i learned from this book is that no matter what you have when you are a orphan a family will still want you.

[aarifa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how Andy narrates like he's actually thinking. I mean it like in a way when hes narrating but thinking at the same time. He's lovable i guess.... but didn't really get as attached to the characters as I thought I would.

[78sunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Teilweise war es zwar etwas langweilig. Es gibt halt nicht wirklich Spannung und somit auf keinen Spannungsbogen. Interessant wurde es durch die wirklich überraschenden Gedanken und Erklärungen des 12jährigen Kinds das an einem Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit leidet. Gerade durch meine Arbeit mit solchen Kindern fand ich es sehr interessant seine Erklärungen zu seinen Problemen zu lesen. Auch seine Gründe zu den vielen Grenzüberschreitungen obwohl er weiß, dass er damit riskiert seine Pflegefamilie zu verlieren, waren teilweise überraschend und ich sehe so manche Reaktion unserer Kinder auf Arbeit jetzt anders.
4 von 5 Sterne

[Ashwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

i got to know how hard it is to live without parents by reading this awesome book...

[Mikaela Pacheco · Rating 5 out of 5]

DRAMA. this one's one of the books i have read and finished reading! ❤