A ghost saved twelve-year-old Maddie's life when she was an infant, her Granny Lane claims, so Maddie must always remember that she is special. But it's hard to feel special when you've spent your life shuffled from one foster home to another. And now that she's at the East Tennessee Children's Home, Maddie feels even less special.

She longs for a place to call home. She even has a "book of houses" in which she glues pictures of places she'd like 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. When Murphy offers Maddie something she has never had before, Maddie begins to wonder if she has finally found someone who feels like home.

 

There are 240 pages in this book. This book was published 2013 by Simon & Schuster .

Frances O Roark Dowell is the editor and co-founder of Dream/Girl, an arts magazine for girls and has been Poet in Residence at Duke University. She has had dozens of poems published in literary journals, and is the author of two previous children's novels, Dovey Coe and Where I'd Like to Be. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two sons.