What I Call Life
 Cal Lavender is perfectly happy living her anonymous life, even if she does have to play mother to her own mother a whole lot more than an eleven year old should have to do. But when Cal's mother has one of her “unfortunate episodes” in the middle of the public library, she is whisked off by the authorities, and Cal is escorted to a seat in the back of a police car. On “just a short, temporary detour from what I call life,” Cal finds herself in a group home with four other girls, watched over by a strange old woman that everyone refers to as the Knitting Lady. At first Cal can think of nothing but how to get out of this nuthouse. She knows she does not belong there. It turns out that all the girls, and even the Knitting Lady, may have a lot more in common that they could have imagined. Cal is constantly thinking that her mother is coming to get her quite soon, but, as it turns out, it takes quite a while for her mother to come and "free" Cal from the group home. The four other girls at the group home are: Amber- The quiet, and almost bald shy one who does not talk for the whole beginning of the book; Monica- The whiny, annoying one of the bunch; Fern- The one who laughs at almost anything Whitney says; and Whitney- the girl who has had so much done to her, she made a list. For example, # 14.: Got dropped on head by Santa at a group home party. Whitney is probably the most important girl living in the group home with Cal. The five of them go off to find Whitney's sister, but, in the end, Cal discovers that this "sister" doesn't exist at all, and the only other ones who know about it are Amber & Whitney herself. Whitney also has a pet pillbug named Ike Eisenhower the 5th, Whose brother Mike the 5th died already. Through the rest of the book, the Knitting Lady (whose name is revealed in the very end) tells them a story about Lillian as a young girl. Then, she finally tells them that Lillian grew up, and had Brenda; Brenda is dropped off at a group home, just like Cal. Eventually, Betty (Cal's mother) comes and takes Cal back home, And then, Cal never hears from Whitney, Amber, Monica, Fern nor the Knitting Lady again..