Ana of California by Andi Teran

Fifteen year old Ana, from East Los Angeles, has been in and out of foster families for most of her life. With only the option of a group home left, Ana and her social worker explore the possible options of emancipation, but only after Ana successfully completes a semester long farm trainee program. Willing to try just about anything, Ana agrees to being placed on the Garber family farm in Hadley, California.

Emmett and Abbie Garber are a brother and sister duo that have been running the family farm; however, times have been tough in more ways than just financial. Abbie makes the decision to take part in the farm program that brings Ana to them. Unlike Emmett, Abbie is thrilled to have Ana living with them, appreciating both Ana’s hard work and her positive presence.

Ana begins to acclimate to life in Hadley. Ana and Abbie bond over art, music, and life in general. While Emmett is a bit more gruff in his interactions with Ana, it's easy to see that she's beginning to create a soft spot in his heart. Ana's found a friend in the eccentric Rye Moon and has developed a crush on bad boy Cole Brannan. Tangled in small town secrets and gossip there are reasons Emmett and Abbie refuse Ana to see Cole. With setbacks along the way, Ana's biggest concern is being sent back to life in a group home.

Ana of California loosely emulates L.M. Montgomery's classic Anne of Green Gables series, but spinning it with a modern twist. For those who liked the classic L.M. Montgomery books, this will be an interesting read as you draw connections from Emmett and Annie to Matthew and Marilla, Cole to Gilbert Blythe, the nosy Minerva Shaw to Avonlea's Rachel Lynde. Avid Anne of Green Gables fans are sure to see the humor in this new take.

The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan

pan·op·ti·con  /paˈnäptiˌkän/- noun.  A circular prison with cells arranged around a central well, from which prisoners could at all times be observed. Oxford English Dictionary

Anais Hendricks is unlike any fifteen-year-old you've probably ever met.  Orphaned by a woman who gave birth at a mental hospital and then disappeared, Anais has spent her entire life in the foster care system in Scotland.  As the book opens, we find our lead character in the back of a police car (a rather normal occurrence for Anais) headed to a new group home.  This home is actually the Panopticon; a former mental institution with 24/7 surveillance.  The Panopticon is used to house the most serious juvenile offenders and Anais soon finds herself in the company of a handful of teens who are either A. broken, B. mentally unstable, C. violent or D. all of the above.  But Anais doesn't have to work very hard to prove her status in this new home since her reputation has reached the doors before the police car: Anais is suspected of beating a policewoman so badly that she is now in a coma.  Anais, however, was higher than a kite at the time of the crime and can remember nothing.  

The story is told from Anais' point of view and is filled with her frustration with the system (it's amazing what the social workers don't ask), her dreams and commentary about "the experiment" and flashbacks to her adoptive mother who was murdered when Anais was still young.  Anais, like many kids in foster care homes, bonds quickly and deeply with her fellow "inmates" and they become a new family unit.  When the threat of throwing Anais into a secure lock-up until she can be placed in a regular jail looms near, and devastating events throw her new family into chaos, Anais must decide if she is going to the criminal everyone in the foster system assumes she is or if she will discover her true self.

This is a very gritty, realistic telling of a life that has always been hard.  One that probably won't get any better.  Anais talks openly about drug abuse, prostitution, child molesters, rape and AIDS.  Fagan writes Anais' voice completely in Scottish dialect which can take some getting used to.  Ultimately, if Fagan's goal was to shine a harsh light on the modern-day foster car system, she has succeeded.  Readers will potentially be horrified by the experiences Anais has lived through in The Panopticon, but will want to cheer for her to become a healthy, independent person.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Victoria is about to turn 18 and about to be removed from the foster system she grew up in. With out any family or money she is moved into a group home with few weeks of rent paid and the advice to find a job and make a plan. Time passes, and she neither has a job nor a plan. What she has is garden in a public park created with flowers that follow the meanings from the book, learned from a time when she was almost happy.

Victoria's story goes from the past to the present giving light to how she ended up with out a home or a family. It's flowers that really speak to Victoria and it's flower that start to bring her to something new. Author Vanessa Diffenbaugh creates a story of the past and the present that show how hope can spring from hopelessness. The Language of Flowers would make an excellent book club book, with its insights into the US foster system and the lost art of the language of flowers.