Home-lost isn't hopeless

Our favorite boy besides Douwe is without a home again now and we have been visiting him about once a week or so at the children's shelter where he is staying. Since I was a little kid, I have been introduced to many many fictional characters that somehow survive the worst nightmare of all: coping in a big world and strange new places without the benefit of having their very own parents nearby to protect or care for them. Here are some of the most memorable home-lost fictional children that come to mind, from books I read as a child, or books I have read in the last couple weeks. Recommended, especially if you are looking for a story that reminds us how it is not ridiculous to keep hoping that Love will work its magic eventually, somehow, in the lives of children who have been put into a seemingly hopeless situation . . .

Edgar Mint ---- The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint by Brady Udall
Anne Shirley ---- Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Bud ---- Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
Astrid Magnussen ---- White Oleander by Janet Fitch
Emily Starr ----- Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery
Sara Crewe ------ A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
the Pevensie kids---- The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Harry Potter ---- The Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
Fannie Price ----- Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Jane Eyre ---- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Stanley Yelnats ---- Holes by Louis Sachar
Gilly Hopkins ----- The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Huck Finn ----- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
David Copperfield ----- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
Mary Lennox ----- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Liesel Meminger ---- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Dorothy Gale ----- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
the Alden kids ---- The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Prince Dolor ----- The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock
Heidi ----- Heidi by Johanna Spyri
James Trotter ---- James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Rebecca ---- Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin