Where I Belong tells the story of Brendan, a foster child with no friends or family. His world gets turned upside down when he fails 6th grade and must attend summer school to move on. He’s had a terrible experience in school, he likely has an undiagnosed learning disability, and has no interest in going to 7th grade. However, summer school interferes with his plans to hang out in his special tree house in the forest, where he has met the Green Man, the spirit of the forest. As Brendan spends time with the Green Man and his new friend from summer school, he has to learn to be vulnerable and honest, even about the parts of his life that he doesn’t want to face. A brutal attack and a harsh realization help Brendan face the truth and move from childhood to middle school with the support of his new friends and teacher. The author’s approach to the moment we need to shed our childhood innocence and move to the next stage of life is full of emotion. ( )

I enjoyed Brandon and Shea's story, especially their relationship with the "Green Man" of the woods. A few times, Brandon sounded a bit too selfish and whiny, but then again, he'd been in foster care too long, too. The scenes in the tree house and in the woods were most fine. A story that makes one see from another's point of view. I loved how Brandon learns to understand the Green Man's apparent "faults" as not faults, but part of the older man's being. Readers will understand the values of silence. ( )

No one is kind to sixth-grader Brendan Doyle: his foster mother, his teachers, his classmates, and especially the thugs who bully him. He takes refuge in books, drawing, carving, and daydreaming. When Brendan stumbles upon an old man near his tree house in the Virginia woods, he is quick to believe that this is the magical Green Man, guardian spirit of the forest.

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