A Place to Call Home

by Jackie French Koller

Book Overview

"A fast-paced, compelling read". -- School Library Journal This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0689813953
• ISBN13: 9780689813955
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Simon Pulse
• Length: 250 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 7.0"
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

A place to call home!

A place to call home! This is a very interesting book that inspires and tells a life story about a girl named Anna and her other two siblings. Casey, at the age of 11 months, and Mandy, at the age of 5. Anna's mother is an alcoholic. She is a regular about leaving Anna to take care of the children for about a day or so but when she leaves this time Anna doesn't think she is coming back! Anna is pretty much a mother at the age of 15. Anna try's to get through the time of her life being a kid but that isn't very possible. Since Anna has 2 siblings to look out for Anna doesn't have a lot of time for boys. So when Nate a very cute boy in Anna's eyes comes along she can not spend time with him! Anna gets her first kiss, and would like to spend time with Nate but now that she knows that her mom is not coming back Anna can't trust anybody. Anna and Mandy are always very scared that the foster care is going to come and separate their family. Mandy and Anna are always looking out for each other and will try to never separate. I liked this book because it is inspiring and it is a life telling story. I really liked this book and I hope you have a fun time reading it too!

One of the Best Books I've Ever Read

I read this book last year, and it was outstanding. This book is about Anna O'Dell and her two younger siblings, Mandy and Casey who are abandoned by their alcoholic mother. Since her father is dead, Anna soon assumes the role of a mother and finds out how hard it really is to be a parent, especially at the age of 15.I highly recommend this book to anyone. When I read it, I couldn't put it down. I read this book in school with some of my friends as a group, and we all loved it. Some of them even cried. It is touching and very realistic, and you will be sad when it ends, because you won't want it to end.

A Place to Call Home

The O'Dell children are left alone when things get too much to handle for their mother. So their mother just takes off. Fifteen-year-old Anna has now learned to take care of her five-year-old sister Mandy, and her seven-month-old brother Casey. Anna tries to hide, and not let anyone know that mother is gone. Anna's goal is to keep the three of them together, but she has to make tough decisions. This is Anna's story. I enjoyed this book because, I would never want to stop. It just kept getting good.

This book is influencial,dramatic, and inspiring!

According to my opinion, "A Place To Call Home" is a very exciting and dramatic book of realistic conflicts.I enjoy reading this book because it relates really well to a responsible teenager's life.It influences people ..especially young people of today,to realize how real and risk-taking life is! I believe that this book contains a lot of tragedies which make you concerned for some of its characters.I was suprised and overwhelmed when I started reading how Anna became such an inspiring teenager,who was going through such tragic and confusing situations.I couldn't believe what her mother did to these poor kids...and how Anna took such drastic action!I think that you should definitely read this book because you'll be so amazed and you'll actually feel great about reading this!Believe Me!

A moving and touching book

A Place To Call Home is a very good book. It is written in first-person and it is written in present tense, which is kind of unusual. It is about biracial Anna O'Dell, and her struggles with her life after her mother commits suicide by driving into a lake. She has a five-year-old sister, Mandy and a baby brother, Casey. One difference is that all the kids have different fathers, or at least Anna has one father and the other 2 have another. Anna has a white mother and a black father, but the other 2 kids have both white parents. Anna has to be a mother and father to Mandy and Casey, and she also has to hide her mother's disappearance from everyone to keep her family together. As the title implies, Anna tries to find a place to call home. She also has to learn more about her mother and herself before she can grow up. She even goes to Mississippi, where her mother grew up and learns about sexual abuse and sadness in her mother's life. Near the end, Anna talks to her mother and thinks about her, next to the lake where she found the car. I think you should go ahead and buy the book - it is worth it. I hope it will affect and touch you the way it did me.