“Home is where the tiger is.”
Genre: Middle grade fiction (realistic)
Length: 18,500 words (so far)
Status: In progress
Notes: This is a back-burner project, on hold since 2006
“Mom’s house” or “Dad’s house.” Where’s “my house”?
Bainbridge Kavin Cassidy, also known as Bay, is a sensitive eleven-year-old kid with divorced parents. Spending weekdays with Mom and weekends with Dad has left him feeling like he’s always visiting, and he depends on his stuffed tiger, Fritz, to catalog his life story so he doesn’t lose the details in transit.
So who’s this girl Marz who’s been mysteriously taking his picture since they were seven? Does she see something special about him that she wants to keep for herself? Bay figures she’s always shooting him because he’s constantly getting caught doing weird things like giving roadkill animals a proper burial, but soon they discover they have more in common besides both having weird names. She soon begins to “share” her houseful of sisters with him, and he begins to learn more about how alternate families operate.
But in his quest to find a place to belong, is Bay neglecting his own parents? Can he depend on Marz’s family the way he can on Mom and Dad, even in an emergency? Beanbag tiger Fritz doesn’t seem to have the answer to this one.