The Window

by Michael Dorris
Lexile:  920

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Rayona can't count on her mom who has good days and bad days.  On a good day, she and her mother have "national holiday" celebrations.  On a bad day, her mom forgets to come home and is too sick to go to work the next morning.  And then one day, her mom doesn't come home at all.  Rayona learns that she has been placed in a court ordered rehab facility.  Her father isn't able to care for her either so he makes arrangements for her to go into foster care.  After two families don't work out, her father decides to send her to live with his mother and sister, neither of whom Rayona has met before.  But before the three can meet, her father has to reveal a secret he's kept for a long time.