My Alternate Life

by Lee Tobin McClainReviewed by Ashley Romero-Rabben, age 12

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Trinity B. Jones is a foster kid who's "been to enough adoption picnics to know that adoptive parents want a cute little baby to hold, not a 15-year-old with brown skin, a 34-C, and a nose ring."

Trinity discovers an alternate-lives computer game that lets her "spy" on her birthmom, and finds that she lives nearby. Her scheme to meet her birthmom works, but everything doesn't turn out exactly as Trinity planned. At the end, she has to decide whether she really thinks her birthmom is the best person to raise her.

I couldn't put this book down. (I actually got in trouble for reading it when I wasn't supposed to.) I like it because I can relate to it: I was in a lot of foster homes before I was adopted. There are some things in the book that aren't realistic, though. For example, it's not that easy to track down your birthmom. I think kids should be able to get to know their birthmother, but they shouldn't feel like they have to impress her, like Trinity did.

Some things are better off the way they are, and you shouldn't try to change them.

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