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Gr 7-10 Ted O'Connor, 15, grew up working in his parents' pet store until they died in a car crash and he was sent into foster care. He shares an attic bedroom with Astin, who rides a Harley and is alternately paternal and threatening. The other foster kid, C.W., has his own room because Mr. Rafter "[doesn't] like to mix white and black." Ted isolates himself from social situations, preferring to communicate with animals. These creaturesfrom stray dogs to caged lionstalk back. The rub is, as Ted begins...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Narrator Ted O'Connor has a unique connection with animals, but Koertge's title refers mostly to the abandoned kids who populate this novel. Ted's parents have just died in a car crash, and he is placed in a foster home with a drill-sergeant father, a nut-case mother, and two experienced foster brothers, C.W. and Astin. Raised in a pet-filled home and bullied in school, Ted relates better to animals than people, and animals, in turn, speak freely...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

After Ted's parents die in a car crash, he's placed in a foster home with a drill-sergeant father, a nut-case mother, and two...Log In or Sign Up to Read More