To the End of June
Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt, 2018
Who are the children of foster care? What, as a country, do we owe them? Cris Beam, a foster mother herself, spent five years immersed in the world of foster care, looking into these questions and tracing firsthand stories. The result is To The End of June, an unforgettable portrait that takes us deep inside the lives of foster children at critical points in their search for a stable, loving family.
Read More ↓
• 2013 New York Times Notable Book
• American Library Association 2014 Notable Book
• Shortlisted for the William Saroyan Prize
• Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Award
• New York Magazine's "Ten Best Books of 2013"
• Boston Globe's "Top Nonfiction of 2013"
• NPR's "Best Books of 2013"
“A triumph of narrative reporting and storytelling, as well as a thorough and nuanced analysis of an American institution deeply in need of reform...Beam gives [foster children] a much-needed voice and does what too many adults in the foster system can't, or won't: She advocates for them.”-New York Times Book Review
"Beam, a foster parent herself, delivers an engaging, narrative-driven investigation that centers on on of the system's most divisive questions: Does separating children from their birth parents do more harm than good?"-NPR.org
"[A] powerful...and refreshing read." -Chicago Tribune
"Heart-rending and tentatively hopeful." -Salon
"Casts a searing eye on the labyrinth that is the American foster care system." -NPR's On Point
"Informative, poignate, passionate, and persuasive., To The End of June is almost certain...to generate a sense of urgency in readers to fix a broken system that has sometimes managed to fly beneath the radar." -Huffington Post
"Beam offers historical background and keen analysis of the social, political, racial, and economic factors that drive foster-care policies...A very moving, powerful look at a system charged with caring for nearly half a million children across the U.S."-Booklist, starred review
"Beam presents both a sharp critique of foster-care policies and a searching exploration of the meaning of family."-Publisher's Weekly, starred review
"An engrossing, well-researched examination of important social issues." -Kirkus
"In this compassionate, rigorous book, Cris Beam describes the failures of foster care, often by way of the moments of light and hope that are inscribed in its brokenness. It is her largeness of heart, manifest on every page, that makes her arguments impossible to ignore, and that informs the deeply engaging stories she so eloquently narrates."-Andrew Solomon, National Book Award-Winning author of The Noonday Demon and Far From the Tree
"Packed with messy humanity, To the End of June is an urgent and necessary book. It would break your heart if it were not for the recurring tales of good people trying to do the right thing, and an undercurrent of rage at what life has served up these kids. Cris Beam brings careful listening, unflinching poise, and her own experience as a foster mother to this account of how the state tries to step up when parents can't." -Ted Conover, author of Pulitzer-finalist Newjack and Coyotes
"To the End of June is a clear-eyed and heartfelt look at foster care in America. It will astound you and appall you. Beam has written an extraordinary book about ordinary people trying to save kids' lives. She has cast a ray of light into a dark and hidden place." -Tim Weiner, National Book Award-winning author of Legacy of Ashes