“What I Call Life” is a young adult fiction novel set around the Pumpkin House, an orange building filled to the brim with foster children who operate under the care of the Knitting Lady.
When Cal Lavender’s mother has another one of her “episodes,” this time in a public library, eleven-year-old Cal isn’t fazed. This is normal behavior for her mother. Soon she’ll snap out of it and everything will be fine, until the next time. But the authorities are called and Betty is taken off for treatment, while Cal is taken to the Pumpkin House. She doesn’t know what to make of the Knitting Lady, with her small body but large hands, the tendency to stutter and a habit of telling a story instead of answering a question. She also doesn’t know what to make of the other girls who live there. Monica is scared of everything, Fern seems a little dim, Whitney is a drama queen, and Amber pulls out her hair and eyelashes. Cal is sure she doesn’t belong in a place like this – her mother isn’t sick. She’ll come any minute and whisk Cal away, saying it was all a mistake.
Cal decides to make the best of her afternoon with these strangers. She’s used to putting a brave face on everything – she’s an expert. What she won’t do is buy into the fantasy that she’ll be staying here. This is a bump in the road. It’s not her real life.
But life has a way of shaking things up, and when Betty doesn’t come by bedtime, Cal refuses to go to sleep. Betty will come at some point during the night. Then she’ll come the next day. Cal keeps herself going by envisioning her mother’s return, all the while rejecting the idea that this placement might be a long one.
The Knitting Lady keeps the girls going by telling them stories, and one particular one catches their attention. This one is about a girl named Lillian who has lost her parents, and everything she goes through afterward. The Knitting Lady tells the girls that this story is theirs, as well, and it means something different to each girl.
As Cal opens up to the idea of living in the Pumpkin House, she also realizes that it’s okay to let down her guard and make friends with these girls. None of them come from a perfect background, but they all have strengths they can share with each other.
(This book was published in 2005 by Henry Holt.)
Related Blogs: