Home Girl

by Alex Wheatle

Overview

"Wheatle has delivered a definitive narrative steeped in cultural philosophy and human sensibilities. Despite the foibles of his tragic characters, a redemptive quality is present--persevering--a testament of the human will to survive against all odds...Highly recommended."
--Kaieteur News (Guyana)

"With a tough exterior and brash attitude, Naomi is an authentic character in an unfortunate yet accurate picture of modern-day foster care in the UK...The ending is neither predictable nor sugarcoated, leaving readers rooting for this determined heroine."
--School Library Journal

Included in In the Margins's 2020 Recommended Fiction List

Included in Publishers Weekly's African-American Interest Young Readers's Titles, 2019–2020

Included in Booklist's Fall 2019 Youth Preview

Included in Publishers Weekly's Fall 2019 Children's Sneak Previews

"As politicians might only see the population's day-to-day lives in terms of statistics rather than experiences, (knowing how many people work on minimum wage doesn't say anything about what the experience is like), they might benefit from more of an insight. A useful contemporary novel they should pick up is Alex Wheatle's Home Girl, focusing on the experience of a girl in the foster care system who is constantly shifted around and can never find a permanent home. Wheatle's other books might be just as beneficial, as he draws on his own experiences of Brixton and the social system."
--The Boar, included in The Politicians' Required Reading List

"Wheatle returns to the world of his award-winning Crongton books with what Atom is calling his most powerful and personal novel yet. Naomi Brisset is a teenage girl growing up too fast in the UK care system. Her journey through a series of foster homes exposes the unsettling, often heartwrenching truth of this life. Yet despite the grit, Wheatle's writing is as rich and warm as ever, bringing courage and hope to an unforgettable heroine's story."
--Bookseller (UK), Editors' Choice

"Teenager Naomi, old before her time and as vulnerable as she is fierce, is growing up in the care system. Foster homes and pupil referral units revealing the unsettling, often bewildering reality of this existence. Wheatle's empathy, authentic characters, and rich dialogue illuminate the dark."
--Observer Magazine (UK)

"Another powerful and poignant novel deftly created by one of the most prolific master novelists on either side of the pond. Home Girl is a page-turner, with not a dull moment. Loved it from the rooter to the tooter."
--Eric Jerome Dickey, New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Wicked

"Alex Wheatle's latest novel offers no unrealistic fairy tale happy ending. But the award-winning writer, who draws on his own experiences of a childhood in care, does offer some hope for Naomi, a sometimes difficult but very likeable heroine."
--Irish News, Children's Book of the Week

This isn't my home. Haven't had a proper home since...This is just somewhere I'll be resting my bones for a week and maybe a bit. This time next year you'll forget who I am. I haven't got a diddly where I'll be by then. But I'm used to it.

New from the best-selling black British author Alex Wheatle, Home Girl is the story of Naomi, a teenage girl growing up fast in the foster care system. It is a wholly modern story which sheds a much-needed light on what can be an unsettling life--and the consequences that follow when children are treated like pawns on a family chessboard.

Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic, and full of courage--just like Naomi. It is Alex Wheatle's most moving and personal novel to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617757716
Publisher:	Akashic Books, Ltd.
Publication date:	12/20/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Alex Wheatle is the author of several best-selling books including the modern classic Brixton Rock, and the multi–award winning Crongton series. He was awarded an MBE for his services to literature in 2008, has been twice nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and has won numerous other awards, including the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. He lives in South London.

Alex Wheatle, one of the most-read black British writers, is the author of several best-selling books including the modern classic Brixton Rock, and the multi–award winning Crongton series. He was awarded an MBE for his services to literature in 2008, has been twice nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and has won numerous other awards. He lives in South London.

Reading Group Guide

1. Does it matter if a potential foster carer is of a different race or culture than the child who needs to be fostered?

2. Should foster carers keep to a code of behavior that they set for their own children, or should they bend the rules for children who have been in the care system?

3. How important is it that foster carers open up about themselves and their childhoods and how they might have overcome their own issues and problems?

4. Is it enough for foster parents to be affluent and able to provide a nice home, or should they have to prove that they can engage with vulnerable children?

5. Would it be a benefit to Naomi if she spent more time with young people who were well educated and had progressive careers?

6. Is it a good idea for Naomi and other troubled teenagers to be attending the same education unit?

7. Are there adequate resources in the care system to recognize and cater to children who are suffering from trauma or PTSD?

8. Why is it crucial for a vulnerable child to be placed in a stable home for a good length of time?

9. Why is it so important that Naomi is encouraged to dance by her friends and her foster family?

10. Although Naomi has been forced by circumstances to take on adult responsibilities in her young life, is she mentally equipped to look after herself?

11. How can foster carers and social services safely monitor the influences of Naomi's friends without intervening in Naomi's independence?

12. Should the Goldings be encouraged to foster/adopt Naomi?

Editorial Reviews

"Wheatle has delivered a definitive narrative steeped in cultural philosophy and human sensibilities. Despite the foibles of his tragic characters, a redemptive quality is present—persevering—a testament of the human will to survive against all odds . . . Highly recommended."

Kaieteur News (Guyana)

"Alex Wheatle’s latest novel offers no unrealistic fairy tale happy ending. But the award-winning writer, who draws on his own experiences of a childhood in care, does offer some hope for Naomi, a sometimes difficult but very likeable heroine."

Children’s Book of the Week Irish News

"Teenager Naomi, old before her time and as vulnerable as she is fierce, is growing up in the care system. Foster homes and pupil referral units revealing the unsettling, often bewildering reality of this existence. Wheatle’s empathy, authentic characters, and rich dialogue illuminate the dark."

Observer Magazine (UK)

"As politicians might only see the population’s day-to-day lives in terms of statistics rather than experiences, (knowing how many people work on minimum wage doesn’t say anything about what the experience is like), they might benefit from more of an insight. A useful contemporary novel they should pick up is Alex Wheatle’s Home Girl, focusing on the experience of a girl in the foster care system who is constantly shifted around and can never find a permanent home. Wheatle’s other books might be just as beneficial, as he draws on his own experiences of Brixton and the social system."

included in The Politicians’ Required Readin The Boar

• Winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2016
• Nominated for the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2017
• Short-listed for the YA Book Prize 2018

  "Alex Wheatle is the real deal; he writes with heart and authenticity, books that make you laugh and worry and cry and hold your breath. It's a pity there's only one of him."
  —Kit de Waal, author of My Name Is Leon

  "I love Alex Wheatle and all he stands for in the world of literature."
  —Kerry Hudson, author of Thirst

  "Alex Wheatle is a one of our foremost literary activists, giving voice to the black working-class experience with unsurpassed clarity and compassion. For this alone he should be universally considered a national treasure."
  —Stephen Kelman, author of Pigeon English

  "Alex Wheatle is an inspirer. He sheds light in dark places so that we might see the unseen and hear the unheard. He is a vital writer. He is a prince among men. Long may he reign."
  —Lemn Sissay, author of Gold from the Stone

  "A major voice in British children's literature."
  —S.F. Said, author of Varjak Paw

From the Publisher

07/01/2019

Gr 7 Up—Fourteen-year-old Naomi Brisset, who is white, has been passed around the UK foster care system with no real sense of home. Since her mother died four years ago, Naomi took care of her alcoholic father, assuming many parenting roles. As such, she thinks of herself as an adult, refusing to ask for help when she needs it. That changes when she meets a black family, the Goldings, for a temporary placement by her overworked but patient social worker, Louise. Unlike past foster parents, the Goldings are genuine, lessening Naomi's instinct to run away, and she develops a soft spot for the Golding children, Sharyna and Pablo. The problem is that UK policy frowns upon placing white kids in black homes and that Naomi's friends from her previous group home, Kim and Nats, continue to be a poor influence on her decisions. Then a tragic accident forces Louise to find a new arrangement for Naomi's future. With a tough exterior and brash attitude, Naomi is an authentic character in an unfortunate yet accurate picture of modern-day foster care in the UK. The plot is a bit slow, and the dialogue, though fitting to Naomi's life situation, can be hard to understand at times. The ending is neither predictable nor sugarcoated, leaving readers rooting for this determined heroine. VERDICT An additional purchase for young adult realistic fiction collections.—Laura Jones, Argos Community Schools, IN

School Library Journal

2019-06-10
Naomi Brisset, a 14-year-old white British girl in foster care, moves restlessly from home to home.

After Naomi accuses her latest foster father of being "a perv with a big prick P," her social worker places her with a "second-generation British, West Indian" family, and Naomi begins to build familial connections with the parents, Tony and Colleen, who was also a foster child, and their two children, Pablo and Sharyna. Wheatle (Kerb-Stain Boys, 2018, etc.) has created a distasteful study in misogynoir, ableism, and homophobia. The book fast-tracks Naomi through situations where she leans into socially problematic scenarios with no apparent awareness: She begs her black foster mother to braid her hair so that she looks like Solange Knowles or Alicia Keys then is accused of cultural appropriation by a black girl who confronts her and is locked up in in-school suspension before being carted away. Wheatle's fictional Crongton leans into every negative stereotype of spaces where there are large concentrations of black communities. An opportunity to discuss issues of race in contemporary Britain is squandered when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech is quoted out of context, with Tony's father being labeled racist while Naomi's own racist commentary is not interrogated. The only queer relationship and characters in the story are demonized through violent and degrading behavior.

The use of extreme trauma to further this story's development creates an unredeemable disconnect. (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews