As tectonic plates shift underneath San Francisco, 11-year-old Marin rearranges the spaces in her own heart for the woman who wants to be her mother. A ward of the state since her birth mother abandoned her at age 4, Marin Greene has finally become adoptable. And Dr. Lucy Chang really hopes to adopt her. Marin has always believed that the mother she barely remembers would return and the I Ching would connect them. But it's not the three cast pennies used in I Ching divination, it's Marin's own detective work that leads up to their meeting and her devastating discovery that what she'd been told was true: Summer Greene didn't and doesn't want to be a mother. An out-of-the-box solution, the interracial adoption of a white child by a single woman, a lesbian, Asian-American doctor, is the right one. This moving story is carefully crafted, woven together in short, short chapters focusing on different characters: Summer, Lucy, a rules-following social worker, a Confucius-quoting owl, and the tectonic plates underlying California. As they meet and rub against each other, tension mounts. The imminent earthquake and the threat of another failed placement add further suspense to a moving narrative that, at its heart, considers family bonds. The inclusion of Owl will alert readers that this tale is not entirely realistic, but it is entirely satisfying. A beautifully written and thoroughly modern family breaking-and-making story. (Fiction. 9-12)

Gr 4-6Eleven-year-old Marin knows how to stay under the radar. Having been in the foster system since she was four, she knows a thing or two about getting by and has just three rules for survival. The third rule is the most important: "Never, under any circumstances, tell anyone that you're waiting for your mother to come back for you." Marin travels light as she bounces from family to family—just a couple of changes of clothes and a few mementos from her mother (a copy of the I Ching, three pennies, and a ceramic piggy bank with a single nickel in it). The language of this short and intense story is spare and evocative, and the chapters are brief and impressionistic. The third-person point of view shifts among Marin; Lucy, the grieving doctor who hopes to adopt Marin; Gilda, the rule-following social worker; and Owl, who roosts across the street from the doctor and has taken an interest in "the hatchling." The fault lines that lie beneath the city of San Francisco get a chapter or two as well. When Marin discovers that Lucy plans to adopt her, thus closing the door to the possibility of her mother ever returning, she steps up her hunt for clues to her identity. Marin is endearing, and readers will worry about her as she plunges headfirst into catastrophe. VERDICT This tender tale of human frailty tugs at heartstrings and will satisfy tweens who like to read with a tissue handy.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

An owl watches as 11-year-old Marin, a hatchling of sorts, finds her way out of the foster care system and into the home of the successful and openhearted doctor, Lucy. Marin's only possessions are a worn copy of the I Ching and the three pennies that rattle around in her birth mother's piggy bank. When she learns that Lucy wants to adopt her, she makes one last effort to find her birth mother, who abandoned her at age four. In short chapters exploring the inner worlds of the owl, Lucy, rule-following case worker Gilda, and even the shifting tectonic plates beneath San Francisco, Crowder illuminates the extent to which Marin is unable to grasp the love and possibility that awaits if she can accept her birth mother's choice. Though the logistics of Marin's eventual meet-up with her birth mother may strain credulity for some readers, Marin's emotional landscape remains utterly true. Crowder's keen sense of storytelling, even in the smallest moments, shines in this moving exploration of the mother-child bond.

Eleven-year-old Marin Greene won't allow herself to love new foster mother Lucy (her sixth in seven years). Marin knows her birth mother is out there, and she will find her. Throughout, Marin's loneliness and longing are palpable: "What would it be like...to have a mother who wanted her?" Luckily, Lucy wants a daughter just as badly. A contemplative, multilayered story that honors foster-to-adoptive families.

As tectonic plates shift underneath San Francisco, 11-year-old Marin rearranges the spaces in her own heart for the woman who wants to be her mother. A ward of the state since her birth mother abandoned her at age 4, Marin Greene has finally become adoptable. And Dr. Lucy Chang really hopes to adopt her. Marin has always believed that the mother she barely remembers would return and the I Ching would connect them. But it's not the three cast pennies used in I Ching divination, it's Marin's own detective work that leads up to their meeting and her devastating discovery that what she'd been told was true: Summer Greene didn't and doesn't want to be a mother. An out-of-the-box solution, the interracial adoption of a white child by a single woman, a lesbian, Asian-American doctor, is the right one. This moving story is carefully crafted, woven together in short, short chapters focusing on different characters: Summer, Lucy, a rules-following social worker, a Confucius-quoting owl, and the tectonic plates underlying California. As they meet and rub against each other, tension mounts. The imminent earthquake and the threat of another failed placement add further suspense to a moving narrative that, at its heart, considers family bonds. The inclusion of Owl will alert readers that this tale is not entirely realistic, but it is entirely satisfying. A beautifully written and thoroughly modern family breaking-and-making story. (Fiction. 9-12)

In San Francisco, a whisper of a girl learns to tread lightly in life as she navigates being a foster child. Marin Greene, 11, was abandoned at age four by her biological mother and has longed for a reunion ever since. A kind, overworked social worker wants to help Marin become legally adopted, but Marin believes that most adults don-t understand what she needs most. Meanwhile, an owl decides to keep watch over Marin, though she is unaware of the bird. Forces of nature are front and center, between impending earthquakes and the beckoning sea and cliffs, as is Marin-s devotion to her few treasured possessions: three pennies, a ceramic piggy bank, and her copy of the I Ching. Crowder-s (A Nearer Moon) sensitive tale has a poetic, lyrical quality that should entrance readers; most chapters are no longer than a page or two, shifting attention among characters (and, at times, switching to second person) in a way that creates a sense of community and togetherness. Marin is resourceful, determined, and brave, and although her life is not easy, her hope is powerfully felt. Ages 8-12. Agent: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Erin Murphy Literary. (May)