Where I'd Like To Be

About this book

A ghost saved twelve-year-old Maddies life when she was an infant her Granny Lane claims so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But its hard to feel special when youve spent your life being shuttled from one foster home to another. And now that shes at the East Tennessee Childrens Home Maddie feels well less than ordinary. Six-year-old Ricky Ray who came to the Home after his parents failed to come back from a party thinks Maddies the cats meow. But what does a little boy like that know? Maddie cant stop looking for a place to call home or for people who feel like home. She even makes a "book of houses " where she glues pictures of places in which she yearns to live. Then one day a new girl Murphy shows up at the Home armed with tales about exotic travels being able to fly and boys who recite poetry to wild horses. Maddie is enchanted....Maybe just maybe shes found someone who feels like home and she lets her guard down. She shows Murphy her beloved scrapbook never anticipating that this one gesture will challenge her very ideas of what home and family are all about. With her astonishing ability to create characters who linger with you long after you turn the last page Frances ORoark Dowell explores the many definitions both heartbreaking and awe-inspiring of home and family.