He's desperate to find out who he is, and if his beloved Mack is really his grandfather.

There are lots of other words, but Sam has always had trouble reading. Sam is almost 11 when he discovers a locked box in the attic above his grandfather Mack's room, and a piece of paper that says he was kidnapped. Sam must solve the mystery of who he really is. As readers become intimately acquainted with Hollis, they will come to understand her fears, regrets and longings, and will root for her as she pursues her dream of finding a home where she belongs. Pictures of motherly Izzy Regan, her architect husband and their mischievous yet compassionate son, Steven, sensitively express the young artist's conception of a perfect family. Giff intersperses tender scenes demonstrating Hollis's growing affection for Josie with memories of the Regans, whose images Hollis preserves in her sketchbook.

She worries about Josie's increasing forgetfulness, and she sorely misses her last foster family, the Regans, whom she left under tense circumstances that are only gradually made clear. Artistically talented Hollis Woods, age 12, has made a habit of running away from foster homes, but she's found a place on Long Island where she wants to 'stay for a while.' She immediately bonds with Josie, her new guardian, who is a slightly eccentric, retired art teacher. Giff (Lily's Crossing All the Way Home) again introduces a carefully delineated and sympathetic heroine in this quiet contemporary novel. Patricia Reilly Giff captures the yearning for a place to belong in this warmhearted story, which stresses the importance of artistic vision, creativity, and above all, family. Still, even as she plans her future with Josie, Hollis dreams of the past summer with the Regans, fixing each special moment of her days with them in pictures she’ll never forget. She’s escaped the system before this time, she’s taking Josie with her. Well, Hollis Woods won’t let anyone separate them. If Social Services finds out, they’ll take Hollis away and move Josie into a home. But Josie is growing more forgetful every day. When Hollis is sent to Josie, an elderly artist who is quirky and affectionate, she wants to stay. Who’s been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all. This Newbery Honor book about a girl who has never known family fighting for her first true home “will leave readers.

Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff