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Anna Casey's Place in the World
How do you face life without a place to call home?
Anna Casey is learning to deal with the loss of her family and adjust to living in a foster home with Miss Dupree. Feeling abandoned and alone, Anna turns to her closest companion, her explorer journal filled with drawn maps of her earlier neighborhoods and all the places that she has called home.
Anna is determined to become part of a real family, and with the help of a scrawny new friend named Eb, an unconventional biology teacher in cowboy boots, a homeless Vietnam vet, and a motley crew of kids from the neighborhood, Anna discovers a sense of belonging…and her own place in the world.
With warmth and humor, award-winning author Adrian Fogelin follows up her critically acclaimed novel Crossing Jordan with the story of a young girl’s trials and triumphs as she tries to find a home.
Anna Casey is learning to deal with the loss of her family and adjust to living in a foster home with Miss Dupree. Feeling abandoned and alone, Anna turns to her closest companion, her explorer journal filled with drawn maps of her earlier neighborhoods and all the places that she has called home.
Anna is determined to become part of a real family, and with the help of a scrawny new friend named Eb, an unconventional biology teacher in cowboy boots, a homeless Vietnam vet, and a motley crew of kids from the neighborhood, Anna discovers a sense of belonging…and her own place in the world.
With warmth and humor, award-winning author Adrian Fogelin follows up her critically acclaimed novel Crossing Jordan with the story of a young girl’s trials and triumphs as she tries to find a home.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2003
About the author
Adrian Fogelin
18 books21 followersAdrian Fogelin is the author of several novels for middle readers and young adults, including Crossing Jordan and The Real Question. She lives in Florida.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 23, 2025
Something that I only recently realized is that the best middle-grade and YA novels are written not only for their intended audience but also for adults. The best authors of YA understand that you’re an adult for a lot longer than you’re a kid, and that no one wants to be condescended to, kids or adults. Cynthia Voigt is the best example of this, but I’m also coming to believe that Adrian Fogelin understands this as well.
This book felt timeless and intelligent, which is a stark contrast to most recent YA and middle-grade fiction. I loved the sadness hovering at the edges of the narration; I loved how the author captured both the joy of being a kid writing with a sparkler on a summer night and the nostalgic sadness of being an adult watching those kids. I loved how real this neighborhood felt: I could feel the sun beating down, smell the hot tar, taste the grape Kool-Aid. Jemmie and Cass continue to be my favorite characters (I absolutely love how real their friendship feels) but Anna and Miss Johnette are also wonderful new additions. I’m so glad I decided to read this series in its entirety, because Adrian Fogelin is, in my opinion, immensely talented.
This book felt timeless and intelligent, which is a stark contrast to most recent YA and middle-grade fiction. I loved the sadness hovering at the edges of the narration; I loved how the author captured both the joy of being a kid writing with a sparkler on a summer night and the nostalgic sadness of being an adult watching those kids. I loved how real this neighborhood felt: I could feel the sun beating down, smell the hot tar, taste the grape Kool-Aid. Jemmie and Cass continue to be my favorite characters (I absolutely love how real their friendship feels) but Anna and Miss Johnette are also wonderful new additions. I’m so glad I decided to read this series in its entirety, because Adrian Fogelin is, in my opinion, immensely talented.
March 2, 2018
The title of my book review is Anna Casey’s Place in the World. It is about two people named Anna and Eb. They are in foster care, and they live with Miss Dupree who is the foster parent. They meet a lady named Miss Johnette and she lets them come to her home and is very nice to them. The problem of the story is that Eb gets poison ivy and they want to find a place for the kids to live. Anna ends up living with Miss Johnette and Eb goes to live with his aunt. They spend a lot of time with Miss Johnette and they do lots of things because the foster parent works from the home.
The central idea of my book is that Anna is a girl who is trying to find a permanent place to live forever. Right now she lives with a lady whose name is Miss Dupree and she might live with a lady named Miss Johnette. Miss Johnette would love for Anna to live with her, but they have to go to court and get it approved. Anna does a lot of things with Miss Johnette. They do things like canoeing on the river, taking a walk through the woods, and they spend a lot of time at her house looking at her collection of bones and fossils. The theme of the book is that you should always trust people that you know and that can help you.
This book was interesting and I think people should read it. I think this book is interesting because it shows that you should enjoy life and take things as they come. I liked the book because it had lots of adventure and it had a lot of heartwarming parts of the book. I think the book was not too easy or too hard to read because it was understandable. I think it was predictable because it talked about friendships that the characters make throughout the book. I thought the ending was hard to understand because it did not really say what was happening and it did not talk about the people in the story. The author’s style of writing was imaginative because the author made a lot of things up.
The central idea of my book is that Anna is a girl who is trying to find a permanent place to live forever. Right now she lives with a lady whose name is Miss Dupree and she might live with a lady named Miss Johnette. Miss Johnette would love for Anna to live with her, but they have to go to court and get it approved. Anna does a lot of things with Miss Johnette. They do things like canoeing on the river, taking a walk through the woods, and they spend a lot of time at her house looking at her collection of bones and fossils. The theme of the book is that you should always trust people that you know and that can help you.
This book was interesting and I think people should read it. I think this book is interesting because it shows that you should enjoy life and take things as they come. I liked the book because it had lots of adventure and it had a lot of heartwarming parts of the book. I think the book was not too easy or too hard to read because it was understandable. I think it was predictable because it talked about friendships that the characters make throughout the book. I thought the ending was hard to understand because it did not really say what was happening and it did not talk about the people in the story. The author’s style of writing was imaginative because the author made a lot of things up.
August 9, 2019
It was simple and sweet. It's good for it's genre and intended audience for sure, but nothing crazy stimulating. Not my favorite book by her by any means, but good for what it is I guess. I It's harder to review juvenile fiction for some reason. I did enjoyed returning to it though since I probably haven't read this one since I was probably 12! Also gotta love it takes place in my hometown 👌🏻 (which makes sense sine the author is from there 😂)
June 18, 2017
I really really wanted to like this book. It's everything I usually really like. And I did like the character of Anna, but most of this book I just skimmed through. Everything felt kind of superficial somehow, like the author had just read To Kill A Mockingbird and wanted to capture the atmosphere of that great story. It just didn't quite reach that same level.
October 26, 2020
Anna and Eb get put into foster care. Eb because his mother's boyfriend beats him. Anna because after losing her parents she lost her grand mother then her Aunt and Uncle split up. The story doesn't focus on the negative parts of either child's lives and only touches on their feelings it was a good read.
November 12, 2025
This was such a sweet read.
A lot of classic kids books get pushed to the side because there are no super-heroes or saving the world. Just regular kids trying to get through regular life.
This is a book about two foster kids and their stories while they stay with the same foster mom. It was just so lovely and real.
Highly recommend.
A lot of classic kids books get pushed to the side because there are no super-heroes or saving the world. Just regular kids trying to get through regular life.
This is a book about two foster kids and their stories while they stay with the same foster mom. It was just so lovely and real.
Highly recommend.
May 1, 2021
I got a hold of this book in the 4th grade and it has been one of my favorite books ever since.
July 3, 2022
It was a fascinating book: foster children, nature, recycling, Viet Nam vet with PTSD, people caring for each other and the earth. Wonderful to have teens concerned about people and the earth.
February 18, 2026
A sweet book.
October 15, 2013
Anna Casey's Place in the World by Adrian Fogelin is a soft and gentle story about a subject that is often times not a soft and gently subject---foster care and the reasons for the need for it. This book is not harsh, does not point fingers. It simply tells a lovely story that is sometimes funny, sometimes sad.
The two main characters, unrelated, have been placed in the foster care of a first time foster mother. A recipe for disaster? No, here it becomes a recipe for caring and sharing and helping each other and the new foster mother through the steps of parenting.
Ed is ten, a frightened little boy who tries without much success to hide his feelings through faked toughness and indifference. Anna Casey is an adventurous, inquisitive twelve-year-old who desperately wants a place to belong. Anna has lived with many different family members, until at last, she has run out of relatives. Ed has lived with his very irresponsible mother and whoever the current boyfriend might be. Ms. Dupree, a third character, is a new 'parent' whose heart is in the right place but who has very little idea how to be a 'mother' or even a friend to these two, but she tries. She runs a business from her home--matching lonely hearts. Her's, perhaps, is one of the loneliest.
Through adventures and misadventures the two youngsters are thrown together and become unlikely allies. They meet and befriend a homeless veteran and an eccentric neighbor who has a pet spider, all types of specimens, and a penchant for picking up neighborhood trash. She is also very likable, someone you might want in your neighborhood. They also meet the neighborhood kids, among them Jemmie and Cass, the main characters from Fogelin's wonderful Crossing Jordan, for Eb and Anna are lucky enough to have landed in their neighborhood. The two girls, along with the boys from the neighborhood, help Eb and Anna start to feel somewhat 'at home'.
Then, of course, change comes along. It is all around as wishes seem to be coming true for all, but will they be for the best? We hope so, we can mentally write it that way for ourselves, but I guess we will have to read the next book from this neighborhood and see if we can find the answer. I don't know!
I have purchased this book for one of my ten-year-old granddaughters for Christmas, along with Crossing Jordan, for the other 10-year-old granddaughter. I hope they like Eb and Anna and Cass and Jemmie as much as I do.
The two main characters, unrelated, have been placed in the foster care of a first time foster mother. A recipe for disaster? No, here it becomes a recipe for caring and sharing and helping each other and the new foster mother through the steps of parenting.
Ed is ten, a frightened little boy who tries without much success to hide his feelings through faked toughness and indifference. Anna Casey is an adventurous, inquisitive twelve-year-old who desperately wants a place to belong. Anna has lived with many different family members, until at last, she has run out of relatives. Ed has lived with his very irresponsible mother and whoever the current boyfriend might be. Ms. Dupree, a third character, is a new 'parent' whose heart is in the right place but who has very little idea how to be a 'mother' or even a friend to these two, but she tries. She runs a business from her home--matching lonely hearts. Her's, perhaps, is one of the loneliest.
Through adventures and misadventures the two youngsters are thrown together and become unlikely allies. They meet and befriend a homeless veteran and an eccentric neighbor who has a pet spider, all types of specimens, and a penchant for picking up neighborhood trash. She is also very likable, someone you might want in your neighborhood. They also meet the neighborhood kids, among them Jemmie and Cass, the main characters from Fogelin's wonderful Crossing Jordan, for Eb and Anna are lucky enough to have landed in their neighborhood. The two girls, along with the boys from the neighborhood, help Eb and Anna start to feel somewhat 'at home'.
Then, of course, change comes along. It is all around as wishes seem to be coming true for all, but will they be for the best? We hope so, we can mentally write it that way for ourselves, but I guess we will have to read the next book from this neighborhood and see if we can find the answer. I don't know!
I have purchased this book for one of my ten-year-old granddaughters for Christmas, along with Crossing Jordan, for the other 10-year-old granddaughter. I hope they like Eb and Anna and Cass and Jemmie as much as I do.
January 22, 2021
This book is one of the best books I have ever read. This book is about a girl in foster care and her journey with her new foster mom and the town she was placed in. She makes maps and collects rocks for every place she has been in to remember it by something. The book goes into her feelings and how she feels as if she has to impress her foster mom because she is scared that she won’t like her and will send her back to the foster care facility. Another young boy came with her to this foster home named Eb who wants nothing else than to go back to his home where his mom’s boyfriend abuses him.
For this being one of the few books I have read about kids in the foster care system this is by far my favorite. It is a very nice story with a happy ending. I would recommend this book to kids around the age of 10 and up because of its contents. Otherwise, this was a book I would definitely read again.
Giovanna P. Age 13, Connecticut/Western Massachusetts
For this being one of the few books I have read about kids in the foster care system this is by far my favorite. It is a very nice story with a happy ending. I would recommend this book to kids around the age of 10 and up because of its contents. Otherwise, this was a book I would definitely read again.
Giovanna P. Age 13, Connecticut/Western Massachusetts
June 19, 2008
This is another juvenile fiction read; this time I came across it from a student I tutored. L. showed it to me and I asked if I could look at it. Twenty pages later, I gave it back and left the school, only to head to the library and take it out so I could finish it. A girl whose parents have died gets shuttled back and forth between relatives until they run out, so she ends up in foster care with a woman who doesn't really know how to handle her very ungirly, adventurous spirit. There are some interesting characters in here, and the ending is kind of predictable for me, but that's probably because I am an adult and read way too much!
September 10, 2013
It stayed with me
When I was a 5th grader in Tallahassee, Florida, my teacher read us this book. It must have been the same year it was published, based on the publication date.
It stuck with me, all these years. For twenty years I thought about Anna Casey, the homeless man in the woods who was a Vietnam veteran, the foster mother who counted the number of times the blue-moon cake was stirred.
I finally reread the book, and I'm so glad I did. I'm long gone from Tallahassee, but I grew up there, and reading about these places I used to be so familiar with (some of them no longer exist) felt like I was holding hands with a ghost.
When I was a 5th grader in Tallahassee, Florida, my teacher read us this book. It must have been the same year it was published, based on the publication date.
It stuck with me, all these years. For twenty years I thought about Anna Casey, the homeless man in the woods who was a Vietnam veteran, the foster mother who counted the number of times the blue-moon cake was stirred.
I finally reread the book, and I'm so glad I did. I'm long gone from Tallahassee, but I grew up there, and reading about these places I used to be so familiar with (some of them no longer exist) felt like I was holding hands with a ghost.
June 8, 2013
From the “Way-back” shelf….copyright 2001!
Don’t you love a book with quirky characters? This book is filled with wonderful characters and real problems. The main character is a young girl who despite being shuffled between relatives and foster parents always manages to see the bright side, and the adventurous side, and maybe gets a little bit in trouble side of things! Does Anna find the right person to live with in the end? Look for this great “way-back” book to read with your middle grade children today! (perfect for ages 8 and up)
Don’t you love a book with quirky characters? This book is filled with wonderful characters and real problems. The main character is a young girl who despite being shuffled between relatives and foster parents always manages to see the bright side, and the adventurous side, and maybe gets a little bit in trouble side of things! Does Anna find the right person to live with in the end? Look for this great “way-back” book to read with your middle grade children today! (perfect for ages 8 and up)
April 12, 2016
Great book!
For parents: This book does deal with some more mature themes, such as child abuse and neglectful parents. The kids meet a homeless Vietnam veteran, so there's a bit about death and war and mental disorders. It might be a good book for parents to read with their tweens. The kids do talk about how the adults are "swapping spit." One of kids somewhat drops a cuss word ("Shee-it!") and another mentions calling Jemmie the "N-word."
Other than that, great story! Anna is adorable and her friendship with Eb is incredibly bittersweet. You'll love it!
For parents: This book does deal with some more mature themes, such as child abuse and neglectful parents. The kids meet a homeless Vietnam veteran, so there's a bit about death and war and mental disorders. It might be a good book for parents to read with their tweens. The kids do talk about how the adults are "swapping spit." One of kids somewhat drops a cuss word ("Shee-it!") and another mentions calling Jemmie the "N-word."
Other than that, great story! Anna is adorable and her friendship with Eb is incredibly bittersweet. You'll love it!
April 23, 2014
This was a really good story. At first I thought that writing a book about an orphan wasn't such an original idea, but Anna ended up being realistically upbeat as she accepted the things that happened to her and the things around her. I think it will really show kids how to make the best out of any situation and that everyone does eventually find a place int he world.
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June 13, 2008
.. It showed me that you don't need everything in the world to be happy. Just the people around you can make you happy.
October 19, 2009
I really like the book but in the beginning i had trouble getting in to it.
Read
December 8, 2010A wonderful book about an element of life most of us don't realize, The element of loneliness
I love the writing style and how Anna puts her opinion on everything
again a very wonderful book
I love the writing style and how Anna puts her opinion on everything
again a very wonderful book
July 27, 2012
Omg I'm reading this book and it's amazing!! Can't go a day without reading but how do we read on this?
December 21, 2012
Didn't really like the group relationship (with Anna) in this book. I'd think they'd be friendlier at first and actually talk to her when they are with the whole group.
January 26, 2015
It was really good!
August 27, 2010
Excellent introduction of a new kid in an old neighborhood.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews