Three Little Words by Ashley Rhodes-Courter (nonfiction)

What a terrible book. Terrible in the sense of what happens in the story. This is the memoir of a girl who spent most of her childhood in the Florida foster care program. It would be an understatement to claim that Florida historically has had a poorly managed Department of Children and Families (its had lots of negative national publicity over some of its failures). So as Ashley tells of the 19 foster parents, 44 child welfare caseworkers, and countless others who failed to protect her in the system, you begin to wonder how a state agency can get so fouled up and how any child who possibly emerge without serious emotional issues. Ashley and her half brother were shunted from place to place, some of them with abusive foster parents. They each developed emotional or behavioral problems (no surprise there) that were exacerbated with each move. It was a vicious cycle: Ashley was moved from place to place because she was "difficult" but the reason she was difficult was because she was moved so often and had no stability in her life. Fortunately, there is a relatively happy ending: Ashley was adopted by parents in Crystal River. They were incredibly understanding and loving, so eventually Ashley was able to blossom and become more self-confident and secure. But she was a teenager before her life became stable.
This book is on the Teen Read list this year; it certainly is an eye opener for those of us who work with the youth of Florida.