Paper Things, Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Realistic fiction
Booktalk: Ari’s life has fallen apart. Her dad died fighting in Afghanistan, and in second grade her mom died after a long illness. After that she and her brother Gage lived with her mom’s friend, but he got tired of following her rules and decided to strike out on his own. So now he and Ari are homeless – they sleep in Gage’s friends’ apartments, crashing on any couch they can find while Gage looks for a job and a permanent place to live.
Things aren’t going much better at school, where Ari’s grades are falling fast – it’s hard to get your homework done when you don’t even know how you’ll pay for lunch or where you’ll sleep. And her mom’s dying wish was for Ari to go to the gifted school – which is looking less and less likely.
Ari takes refuge in her “Paper Things” – a folder full of pictures from magazines and catalogs. Pictures of perfect lives – beautiful furniture, complete families, new clothes – lives that Ari can never have. But with the help of some new (and old) friends, Ari will figure out how to make the best of what she does have.
Similar titles: Almost Home (Joan Bauer), Hold Fast (Blue Balliett), Gaby, Lost and Found (Angela Cervantes)