Looking for an unforgettable collection of inspiring YA books about orphans and fosters? As an award-winning author and longtime blogger, I’ve spent over a decade reading, analyzing, and recommending the most emotionally honest stories that explore themes of identity, belonging, and resilience in children whose parents die, abandon them, or cannot care for them for some other reason.
You’ll find detailed reviews of a dozen of my personal favorites in the roundup below. I’ve personally curated this diverse collection from my own bookshelves. Discover your next great read for National Foster Care Month in this eclectic list.
Forgotten But Never Gone by Khristina Chess
“I think it was this rebellious quality about her that allowed everyone to write off her disappearance so easily. Kids like Half-pint ran away. This whole generation was full of delinquents. Blah, blah, blah.” – Khristina Chess, quote from Forgotten But Never Gone
I love watching those “small-town cold case” shows and old unsolved mysteries, and Forgotten But Never Gone had that kind of vibe for me.
The story opens with the disappearance of fifteen-year-old Rosie Fields. One of the last to see her was her friend Bobby, a foster kid whose life Rosie once saved. When the police dismiss her case as just another runaway, Bobby refuses to accept it, and in his relentless search, he follows one lead after another until he makes a shocking discovery.
Set in 1980, this YA novel really transported me back to a nostalgic time before AMBER alerts and 24-hour news cycles, when carefree teenagers roamed neighborhoods with little supervision and always returned home in time for supper.
Except sometimes they didn’t.
I felt like Bobby, the amateur sleuth in this novel, was a lot like Mark Zuzack’s relatable and multifaceted young characters in The Book Thief. Unlike many female-led mysteries that focus on social hierarchies, Bobby’s journey is defined by his "outsider" status, making this amateur sleuth story a compelling choice for readers looking for YA books with male characters.
I liked how the layered and unsettling mystery in Forgotten But Never Gone exposes some of the reasons why more people seemed to vanish without a trace in the 70s and 80s. What made this book especially powerful for me was its dual resonance: it’s both a gripping page-turner and a thoughtful exploration of how society failed vulnerable youth in the past.
Bobby’s determination to find out what happened to his friend reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely person can become the keeper of truth, and that refusing to forget is itself an act of justice.
If you are looking for books about foster care for young adults, this new release by Khristina Chess is a must-read.
Find Me by Romily Bernard
“Pretending to be normal makes you feel like you’re bleeding to death.” ― Romily Bernard, quote from Find Me
Wick is a teenage girl with a lot of things going on in her life. She and her little sister are living in a new foster home with great people, and her side business as a hacker/private detective is going well. Except that there's a cop parked outside her house all the time. And the girl next door, a childhood friend, committed suicide and left a journal behind with disturbing information. Wick's dad and best friend are criminals and have a talent for threatening Wick into cooperating in their schemes. There's also a cute boy...
There's more. Like I said, Wick has a lot going on in her life.
Find Me is a page-turner with a fantastic heroine and loads of conflict. The ending was amazing, and although I thought I knew what was happening, the actual unfolding of the story was heart-pounding.
If you’re looking for books about teen girls in foster care, Find Me is a great pick.
The Problem with Forever by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Themes for orphans and Fosters
Relationships with emotional depth & themes of belonging and resilience
What it’s about
An adopted girl reunites with the boy who saved her in foster year so many years ago—and sparks fly!
Why I Love It - Book Review
“Goodness, I was already a dork most of the times. I didn’t need to be a drunk or high dork.” ― Jennifer L. Armentrout, quote from The Problem with Forever
After four years of home schooling and therapy, Mallory Dodge takes the gigantic step of going to a public high school for her senior year. She’s ready. She’s pretty sure. But on the first day, she collides with her past as she comes face-to-face with the person who meant everything to her: Rider Stark.
The boy who saved her.
Everything about this book is wonderful. I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters, and I loved the strong relationship between Mallory “Mouse” and Rider. I loved the way their characters grew and changed as the story unfolded. They were so encouraging with each other, and Mallory’s best friend Ainsley is such a great friend.
The themes in the novel are well developed: childhood trauma, class difference, foster care, adoption, the impact of good teachers (Mr. Santos, the speech teacher), good parenting.
This is simply an amazing book!
If you’re looking for inspiring fiction books about foster care, orphans, and teens, check out The Problem with Forever. You won’t regret it.
Property of Nobody by Khristina Chess
“No one is coming for you. No one is missing you. And no one will mourn you if you’re killed.” ― Khristina Chess, quote from Property of Nobody
In a genre where male voices are rare, young Teódulo stands out—a gripping, unforgettable protagonist trapped in the insidious web of debt bondage after the murder of his father. His descent into horror is slow, suffocating, inevitable. I worried for him. I clung to every choice he made, knowing escape might never come.
What stood out for me is that this novel doesn’t just tell a story; it challenges readers to look at the dark underbelly of human trafficking, organized crime, and the vulnerable children we’re too afraid to see.
It’s haunting. It’s brutal. It’s harrowing.
Freedom is not free.
With its riveting storytelling, unusual male perspective, and powerful themes, Property of Nobody has sparked conversations across book clubs in my local community. It remains one of the few YA novels that tackles the 'unseen' reality of child debt bondage in the American meat processing industry, making it a critical read for those seeking diverse male voices.
If you’re searching for books about orphans that include complex social justice themes, I highly recommend Property of Nobody as an essential read.
How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow
“You are carrying so many heavy feelings. There just isn’t enough room for them all.“ ― Kathleen Glasgow, quote from How to Make Friends with the Dark
After Tiger Tolliver's mom dies of a brain aneurysm, she becomes a ward of the state, an orphan, suddenly faced with an uncertain future. She doesn't have any living relatives. She doesn't know anything about her father. It's just her and her mom--and now just her. A minor.
What Tiger begins to learn is that her mom kept some important secrets from her. For example, she has a living dad. And a sister.
This YA novel about orphans and fosters is a real tear jerker! Tiger strikes me a sheltered girl with little real life experience; on the day her mom died, she was kissing a boy for the first time. She wasn't prepared for the events that followed as she entered the system. Yet, despite her tragic circumstances, she makes a path for herself. She makes mistakes but doesn't fall off a cliff. She keeps people at a cautious distance, but she does make friends and finds a way to build a new family for herself.
If you want more books about teen girls in foster care, How to Make Friends with the Dark will tug at your heartstrings. Bring extra tissues for this one!
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
“It took us fifteen years to find each other, but we still did! And sometimes, family hurts each other. But after that's done you bandage each other up, and you move on. Together. You've got us now, like it or not, and we've got you.” ― Robin Benway, quote from Far from the Tree
This book was so good it made me cry. As in, I had to leave the couch for tissues. Prepare yourself.
Grace, Maya, and Joaquin are siblings that were adopted to different parents as infants—except Joaquin wasn’t adopted. He went into foster care and had a harder time of things.
At 16, Grace finds herself pregnant and giving her baby up for adoption, which is the triggering event for reuniting these siblings and sending them on a search for their biological mom. In the process, they learn what it’s like to be family with one another as well.
This book won the National Book Award, and there’s a reason. If you haven’t read this one yet and you’re looking for inspiring books about foster care for young adults, give it a look. Joaquin’s story about growing up in foster care won’t disappoint.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
“I am haunted by humans.” ― Markus Zusak, quote from The Book Thief
In this historical novel set in Nazi Germany, we meet a young foster girl named Liesel. She’s an orphan. She loves books. She and her foster parents are sheltering a Jewish man in their basement. He also likes to read.
The writing is lovely. Zusak paints Liesel’s world of poverty, anxiety, fear, and grief in shades of stark contrasts. He is both a poet and a novelist.
What a wonderful, heartbreaking, haunting, and gripping story! It makes you really ask deep questions. It’s so beautiful. It’s transformational. It’s the reason why I love books. If you’re looking for an inspiring novel about an orphan girl with heart, you won’t want to miss this one.
The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson
“What kind of girl wants to kiss every boy at a funeral, wants to maul a guy in a tree after making out with her sister’s boyfriend the previous night? Speaking of which, what kind of girl makes out with her sister’s boyfriend, period?” ― Jandy Nelson, quote from The Sky Is Everywhere
I love, love, loved this book! The writing is so lyrical, and the story is incredibly sad. It begins with protagonist Lennie, who is grieving the sudden death of her sister. Although Bailey is dead, the relationship between these siblings is very much alive on the pages of this novel. Lennie writes beautiful poems, and she spends time in their room and shares so many memories that I feel I know Bailey.
A charismatic new boy shows up at school, and Lennie ends up entering into 2 romances at the same time. This is the love triangle. One romance is with the new boy at school, and the other is with her dead sister’s grieving boyfriend. Sooner or later, she has to decide which one of these guys is the one she’s going to stick with. Oh, boy.
All of the characters are vivid, and the story is captivating. The creative visual aspect of the novel is also a nice touch; Lennie writes her poems on scraps and scatters them everywhere, and these appear at the beginning of chapters.
Why is The Sky Is Everywhere in this list of inspiring YA books about orphans and fosters? Lennie and Bailey’s mom abandoned them years ago, and they live with their Gran and Uncle Big, who are larger-then-life characters, full of love. The vanished mom is a painful presence in Lennie’s life, though. Lennie finds clues among Bailey’s things that her sister also longed for their mom. This abandonment of the girls hurt them very much.
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
“That joke of a bookshelf has the same crap they had in baby jail I’ve inhaled three times over and I’d kill for something - anything - new to read. But I’d never say that out loud. I’m a killer after all; they’d probably think I’d really do it. Figures of speech are luxuries convicted murderers are not allowed to have.“ ― Tiffany D. Jackson, quote from Allegedly
Mary lives in a group home following her incarceration in baby jail for killing an infant. Allegedly. Life in the group home is hard for Mary, who is smart and trying to take her SATs and apply to college. She works at a nursing home, which is where she met Ted.
Now Mary is pregnant, and they’re going to take her baby away. So after all this time, she decides to tell the truth about what happened that night when Alyssa died.
Allegedly is a dark mystery that keeps the pages turning, and Mary is a compelling character. I really wanted her to succeed because so many things seemed to be against her. The other girls (and even the so-called responsible adults) are truly awful to her, and at least one of them turns out to be a psychopath. Fun times!
This book has some chilling moments as the events unfold. For readers looking for books about teen girls in foster care, I highly recommend!
More to Me by Saty Cornelius
Fourteen-year-old Bri and her siblings are separated into foster homes after their alcoholic mother's abuse sends their little brother to the hospital.
Bri desperately wants to reunite with her siblings, but instead she bounces from one foster to another. The dream fades away as her siblings find the stability and love they need in forever homes. Bri herself struggles.
This book is a fast read, and I wanted to like it more. On the one hand, I was overwhelmed by the ever-changing cast of characters as Bri moved around, but I suppose this is a realistic experience for a child in the foster system. They probably DO all start to blend together, especially when you don't stay long.
There were a couple of moments when some deeper character development could have happened and didn't. For example, at the end, Bri finally does go into therapy, but she completely glosses over how this is helping her, just saying that it does. It makes her transformation rushed and incomplete.
Still, if you're looking for books about foster are for young adults, More to Me is one worth checking out.
My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak
“Love takes more than a couple days and a secret, shotgun marriage to develop into something worth dying for.” ― Ali Novak, quote from My Life with the Walter Boys
Jackie is an orphan who finds herself transported from a life of privilege and private school in New York City to a rural ranch in Colorado, where she shares a very crowded home with 11 boys and one tomboy. There were plenty of opportunities for this story to explore the themes of grief, sisterhood, and being an orphan more deeply, but instead, the book focuses on the love triangle that develops between Jackie and two of the brothers.
That’s just fine. The pages turned quickly. I thought I’d be too disoriented by all those gorgeous and talented brothers, but Novak does a good job of introducing them and making them unique as Jackie gets to know them. I felt her sense of being overwhelmed by the family initially, and then one by one, the boys (and sister) became individuals. The parents are kind.
I liked the ending. This is nice debut book and a sweet YA romance. I included My Life with the Walter Boys because Jackie very recently lost her parents, so this is a book about teen girl orphans who are dealing with being on their own.
What I Carry by Jennifer Longo
I really wanted to like this book. All the potential is there: heartwarming story, humor, romance, and the tough topic of a teen aging out of foster care. Muir’s character arc is well-developed, and some of the dialog is laugh-out-loud funny.
Unfortunately, the author kept blurting these heavy-handed and out-of-character statements about race into the protagonist’s viewpoint. These were incredibly jarring and kept pulling me out of narrative. It seemed that the author wanted this book to be about race, but rather than craft the novel in such a way to show this in a natural and authentic way, it failed. In fact, as a reader I was genuinely confused. At one point, I thought maybe the author herself had forgotten who her character really was—like maybe she changed her mind mid-novel about Muir’s identity and got lazy in the editing.
(p.11) I am white, and I know that buys me a definite amount of privileged safety…
Yet at the thought of being adopted by a white foster mother, she goes on this rant:
…this country was built on stealing babies from their mothers. White people did it to indigenous people, and they still try it; slave owners sure as fuck did it; white people still adopt kids from other cultures, name them Tiffany…
But… Muir is white. No one is stealing her. Where did this fake rage come from? It does not belong to Muir, and this speech breaks the flow of the rest of the story. It’s tacked in there. It falls flat.
I did like objects that Muir kept from all the foster families and the stories of how those objects came into her possession. I liked her resiliency in a life that was hard, and I liked her advocate, Joelle, who was the one constant in her life. The secondary characters were interesting. I liked the dog.
If you’re looking for books about teen girls in foster care, What I Carry has good moments.
Other Inspiring YA Books about Orphans and Fosters You Should Read
If you are looking for some other inspiring books about orphans and foster homes, check out the YA Fiction about Orphans and YA & Middle Grade Books about Foster Care & Adoption lists on Goodreads. You might also be interested in my post Other Good Reads, which has a comprehensive list of reviews of YA books.
About the Author: Khristina Chess
Khristina Chess is an award-winning author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including The Cutting Edge of Friendship, The Delinquent Hero, and Junior Missing. Her novel about eating disorders, Hollow Beauty, was named a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She tackles tough teen topics and writes binge-worthy books across multiple genres, including contemporary, thriller, mystery, dystopian, and adventure.
