Forever, or a Long, Long Time by Caela Carter

 "I call her my mom when I'm talking to her or anyone else, but in my head I call her my person because there have been too many mommies and they all have different faces that blend together in my brain until they're one ugly face that doesn't make sense and some of them were nice but others weren't very nice and they're all gone now anyway and Person says she's here forever."
Person is what Flora calls her current and promised to be forever mom.  She and her brother Julian have been in foster care since they were very young. They have no memory of a biological mom and are convinced that they were not born like other children.  Flora’s inability to trust and Julian hoarding food under his bed are clues to their former lives. When their therapist suggests revisiting past foster homes, Emily (Person), Flora and Julian take a journey that is both heart-wrenching and healing.
How do you build trust and reassure that love is forever? As we meet past foster families both good and not so good, Emily is a constant source of love and wisdom.  The resilience of these children will touch your heart.  
There are many kinds of families in this book; two moms, mixed race, foster, divorced and adopted. While there is love and kindness there is also emotional trauma. Things don’t magically get better but the healing has begun and you feel that facing problems will help the hurt.
This is an endearing book that will make you laugh and cry.  You want to gather this family in your arms.
 
Tessa's Picks
5th-8th grade, Character driven, Contemporary fiction, Family life, Issues fiction, Tear jerker

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