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Comics, Comic books & Graphic Novels Modesty Blaise Peter O'Donnell, Jim Holdaway 1963 Modesty Blaise is a British comic strip with a fictional character of the same name. It was created in 1963 by Peter O’Donnell and Jim Holdaway and follows the adventures of the talented Modesty Blaise and her sidekick Willie Garvin. In 1945, a girl escapes from a displaced persons camp in Greece. She wanders around the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa, learning to survive and eventually becoming Modesty Blaise. In 1953, Modesty Blaise takes control of a criminal gang in Tangier and expands it an international organisation she calls the Network. Over time, Modesty Blaise meets Willie Garvin, the pair retire and move to England, but, bored, they begin work for the British Secret Service—and for themselves. Many reprints of Modesty Blaise have appeared over the years, along with novels and several films. External Website

Children's Fiction Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone J K Rowling 1997 Harry Potter is living in kinship care with his cruel aunt and uncle. They keep him in a room under the stairs. Harry has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. External Website

Comics, Comic books & Graphic Novels Little Orphan Annie Harold Gray 1924 Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and it made its debut on August 5, 1924, in the New York Daily News. Annie is a ten-year-old orphan. Her distinguishing physical characteristics are auburn curly locks, a red dress and vacant circles for eyes. Her catchphrases are "Gee whiskers" and "Leapin' lizards!" Annie attributes her lasting youthfulness to her birthday being on October 15. Annie is a plucky, generous, compassionate, and optimistic youngster who can hold her own against bullies, and has a strong and intuitive sense of right and wrong. The story starts in a Dickensian orphanage where Annie is routinely abused by the cold and sarcastic matron Miss Asthma, who eventually is replaced by the equally mean Miss Treat (whose name is a play on the word "mistreat"). One day, the wealthy but mean-spirited Mrs. Warbucks takes Annie into her home "on trial". She makes it clear that she does not like Annie and tries to send her back to "the Home", but one of her society friends catches her in the act, and immediately, to her disgust, she changes her mind. Her husband Oliver, who returned from a business trip, instantly develops a paternal affection for Annie and instructs her to address him as "Daddy" but the Warbucks never adopt Annie and her orphan status becomes an important symbol of her resilience. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Care Collective Zine - Issue 1.pdf Lys Eden 2020 Care Collective is a creative zine for care-experienced individuals, which allows them to share their experience in their own unique way, whether it’s through artwork, photography, poetry or creative writing. The zine also offers this opportunity for older voices to be heard, a demographic which is often overlooked. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles How Truman Capote Was Destroyed by His Own Masterpiece Literary Hub (5) 2023 In this article, Ebs Burnough asserts that Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” – an initial part of which was published in The New Yorker in 1965 – “catapulted [him] from a mere darling of the literary world to a full-fledged global celebrity on a par with the likes of rockstars and film legends.” Capote had read a New York Times article about the brutal murder of a family in Kansas. He set out to investigate, in 1959 going to visit the affected Kansas community. By 1965 his “non-fiction novel” was almost complete; he was waiting for the final moment when the 2 young men convicted of the crime were executed. Capote was deeply affected by the executions, says Burnough, who has long been a fan and is creator of the 2019 documentary, The Capote Tapes. The deaths, Burnough goes so far as to say, precipitated Capote’s decline into drug and alcohol addiction. External Website

Children's Fiction Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian 1981 The story of young Willie Beech, evacuated to the country as Britain stands on the brink of the Second World War. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Jackie Kay on putting her adoption on stage – and getting a pay rise for her successor Jackie Kay 2019 When Scotland’s national poet travelled to Nigeria to ask her birth father if he ever thought of her, he said no. Does it hurt to put this on stage? And should the next ‘makar’ be on £30,000? External Website

Children's Fiction Home Girl Alex Wheatle 2019 Home Girl is the story of Naomi, a teenage girl growing up fast in the foster care system. It is a wholly modern story which sheds a much-needed light on what can be an unsettling life--and the consequences that follow when children are treated like pawns on a family chessboard. Home Girl is fast-paced and funny, tender, tragic, and full of courage--just like Naomi. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles John Brownlow's story Carol Harris (Coram) 2021 In this blog, you can read the story of John, who was a pupil at the Foundling Hospital, England’s first dedicated children’s charity, in the 19th Century. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Taking control of the narrative with my debut novel Careless Kirsty Capes 2021 In this blog, Kirsty Capes writes about growing up in the care system in the UK, and being aware of an expectation of failure. External Website

Children's Fiction A Walz Through the Hills G.M. Glaskin 1961 Two children are orphaned while living in a country pub in the West Australian bush where their mother has been working. They set out to work over 130miles to Perth so they can sail to England and live with their grandparents. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles How damaging are stories of damage? Kenny Murray 2020 Kenny Murray writes about the negative representations of Care Experienced People. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Anne of Green Gables L M Montgomery 1987 Anne of Green Gables, children’s novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, published in 1908. The work, a sentimental but charming coming-of-age story about a spirited and unconventional orphan girl who finds a home with elderly siblings, became a classic of children’s literature and led to several sequels. The story begins with her arrival at the Prince Edward Island farm of Miss Marilla Cuthbert and Mr. Matthew Cuthbert, siblings in their fifties and sixties, who had decided to adopt a young boy to help out on the farm. However, through a misunderstanding, the orphanage sends Anne Shirley instead. While the Cuthbert’s are at first determined to return Anne to the orphanage, after a few days they decide instead to keep her. External Website

Children's Non-fiction John Lennon Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara 2020 When John Lennon formed a band while still in school, he couldn’t have known they were about to change music forever. With their exciting new sounds, rebel attitudes and gift for songwriting, everyone went crazy for The Beatles. Today, John is remembered not just as a musical icon, but as a champion of world peace. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the legendary Beatle’s life. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles It was lonely growing up in care – but I felt even more isolated after I left | Fostering | The Guardian Louise Hughes 2019 Louise Hughes' account of growing up in the care system and then going on to university at the age of 18. She wrotes of struggling to make friends at university, as she had struggled earlier at school. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles What is it really like being a Care Experienced Person? Charlotte Armitage 2018 Charlotte discusses responses to Care Experienced People, representations of them, and her hope that future writers and producers will take care in their representations. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Golly in the Cupboard Phil Frampton 2004 Born in the seaside village of St Agnes, Cornwall in 1953, Phil Frampton wanted to discover the reasons behind his abandonment as a child. For several decades he was unable to unwrapt he mysteries. In 1999, Phil finally got to access official records kept on him as a child. Using these records and letters, Phil unfolds an odyssey of joy, rejection, love, racism, drama, abuse, intrigue and deception, and records his reaction to his discoveries. External Website

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Autobiography/Memoir Ushant: an autobiographical narrative Conrad Aiken 1962 Aiken was the eldest son of William Ford and Anna (Potter) Aiken. In Savannah, Aiken's father became a respected physician and eye surgeon, while his mother was the daughter of a prominent Massachusetts Unitarian minister. On February 27, 1901, Dr. Aiken murdered his wife and then committed suicide. According to his autobiography, Ushant, Aiken, then 11 years old, heard the two gunshots and discovered the bodies immediately thereafter. After his parents' deaths, he was raised by his great-aunt and uncle in Cambridge, Massachusetts, attending Middlesex School then Harvard University. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Orphans in Fiction - The British Library John Mullan 2014 Why do orphans appear so frequently in 19th-century fiction? Professor John Mullan reflects on the opportunities they provide for authors, considering some of the most famous examples of the period 1832-1880. External Website