Great Summer Read!

Wolfson, Jill (2006). Home and Other Big Fat Lies. 281 pages. Grades 5 - 8.

Whitney or "Termite" is an eleven year-old girl who has lived with eleven different foster families and is on to number 12. She arrives in an economically depressed logging town to live with the McCrary family, who doesn't seem very thrilled upon her arrival. Once again, she feels like an outsider, but when she meets other foster kids at school Whitney's situation begins to brighten. In addition, Whitney realizes that she enjoys nature and exploring the forest next to her new home. With a little urging from her science teacher, she joins the ecology club and leads the group in saving a Redwood from being chopped down by a logging company. Whitney is a very funny and clever girl who arrives as an outsider, but becomes part of this new community.