This is a sweet but simplistic story about an orphan in the foster care system (presumably set in the 1950s or 1960s?), who keeps running away because she doesn't feel at home in any of her foster care placements. Then she is sent to a farm, to an older couple who want a boy but who are willing to keep her for a few weeks while her social worker searches for a new placement. She quickly realizes she wants to stay, but doesn't want the couple to take her out of a sense of obligation.

A nice, sweet read. Things work out in a way that's too tidy to be believable, but I still enjoyed it.

A funny tidbit: the book's original title is "A Nickel for Alice" -- but the coin that's important to the plot is a dime, not a nickel. I wonder if it was changed to a dime in later editions to keep up with how much a phone call cost. ( )

From 1967 vintage Scholastic cover:

"If you keep running away, Alice," says Miss Cannon, "I can't find the right home for you."

"Perhaps I won't ever find the right home," orphaned Alice says sadly.

Then--for just a few weeks--Alice goes to stay on a farm with the Potters. They are the happiest weeks in Alice's life. No one could want a more wonderful home or a better mother and father than Mr. and Mrs. Potter.

But Alice can't forget that she heard Mrs. Potter say, "You know, Miss Cannon, I really want a boy."