I’m resurrecting an old project here at the tail-end of the year with this book.  Way back in 2009 I decided to read through the alphabet by picking a book from the fiction As, then Bs, and so on.  I kicked it off with Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793 back in 2009,  and since then I’ve read

•  B:  The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall
• C:  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• D:  The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli
• E:  Thimble Summer by  Elizabeth Enright
• F:  Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

For the Gs, I decided to read something by Nikki Grimes because we enjoyed her Christmas book, Voices of Christmas, so much.  Grimes is obviously a very talented author who is capable of handling a variety of genres; Voices of Christmas is poetry, while The Road to Paris is a realistic middle grade novel about a girl, Paris, who learns to trust and love through the care of a loving foster family.  We follow Paris and her brother Malcolm as they experience neglect and abuse at the hands of their mother, their stepfather, and foster parents.  The two are eventually separated, and Paris goes to live with the Lincolns, a family with a “permanent” foster daugher, two natural sons, and lots of stability and love to offer her.  Paris stays in one place long enough to grow a friendship, as well as experience rejection because she is biracial.  In the end Paris grows into her own skin; instead of just being a kid who has to do whatever anyone tells her to do, she realizes that she does have some sort of say-so about her life.  Most importantly, she learns from the Lincolns that she can ”keep God in her pocket”–that God is close by her as long as she allows Him to be. 

This is a simple book with short chapters, one that can be read quickly.  It’s not complicated or even particularly beautifully written.  What it is, however, is a book that gets right to the heart of what it is like to be a foster child:  unsure of what the future holds; torn between the “real” mother and the one who actually cares for you; dependent on a sibling as the only dependable person in your life (and then he’s torn from you, too); projecting the behavior of an abusive person onto everyone else, expecting even those who care for you to mistreat you, too; and so on.   Paris’s thoughts here sum it up perfectly:

I wish there were two of me.  That way, both of us could have the family we want.  (130)

Although this is a very difficult subject, Nikki Grimes handles it with a light touch, making this book appropriate for even youngish middle graders.  I have relatives who have cared for children through foster care for many years; this book sheds light on what such children feel like, making it possible for me to have just an inkling of the pain and trauma of their young lives.  I would never presume to know how such a child might feel, but the author biography on the jacket flap states that Grimes lived with a foster family herself in Ossining, NY, the same place that Paris lives with the Lincolns.  This leads me to believe that the book must at least be inspired by Grimes‘s own life.  If you’re looking for a book to broach this difficult subject with a child, this is a good one.  While I can’t say I exactly enjoyed reading it, I did find Paris’s story compelling enough to keep me turning pages long after I should’ve turned the lights out.  I can see why it was awarded a Coretta Scott King author honor award in 2007.  (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2006)