THE GOLDEN DAYS
by Gail Radley
Foster child Cory, 11, has recently been placed with Michele and Dan, a young couple anxious to please. Accustomed to moving around, Cory can't believe that they really want him, especially when he learns that Michele is pregnant. He runs away with new friend Carlotta—who, at 75, hates the antiseptic life of a nursing home and welcomes the ``golden days'' of traveling with Cory. But she's already frail and quickly becomes ill, ending up in the hospital. Michele and Dan track the runaways down and invite Carlotta—now officially Cory's ``family''—to live with them, too. Predictable (all the signals for a happy ending are in place well before Cory runs off) but satisfying: Cory and Carlotta are an amiably resourceful pair, while the oft-played story of an orphan finding a home is always worth hearing one more time. (Fiction. 8-12)