The Echo Park Castaways
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the author of The Other Boy comes a poignant and heartfelt novel that explores what it means to be a family. Perfect for fans of Counting by 7s.
Nevaeh, Vic, and Mara are veterans of the Los Angeles foster care system. For over a year they’ve been staying with Mrs. K in Echo Park. Vic spends most of his time living in a dream world, Mara barely speaks, and Nevaeh is forced to act as a back-up parent. Though their situation isn’t ideal, it’s still their best home yet.
Then Child Protective Services places Quentin in the house, and everything is turned upside down. Nevaeh really can’t handle watching over anyone else, especially a boy on the autism spectrum. Meanwhile, Quentin is having trouble adjusting and attempts to run away.
So when Vic realizes Quentin just wants to see his mom again, he plans an “epic quest” to reunite them. It could result in the foster siblings getting sent to different group homes. But isn’t family always worth the risk?
Foster Siblings: Responsible Nevaeh, imaginative Vic, quiet Mara, and newcomer Quentin aren’t related by blood, but they might just be the family they’ve all been waiting for.Neurodivergent Characters: A thoughtful and authentic portrayal of life on the autism spectrum and with ADHD, celebrating the unique ways Quentin and Vic see the world.A Heartfelt Adventure: When Vic organizes a daring cross-city quest to help Quentin, the four castaways risk being separated forever for a chance to do the right thing.A Story of Resilience: Perfect for young readers, this novel explores the tough realities of the foster care system with honesty, hope, and the powerful message that home is something you build together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The Los Angeles foster care system makes a striking backdrop for this small-scale adventure with ample heart. The four children who live with overworked Russian widow Mrs. K include 13-year-old high achiever Nevaeh, who is black; Salvadoran Vic, a hyperactive 11-year-old who escapes into superspy fantasies; Quentin, a white kid on the autism spectrum; and Latinx Mara, a younger Spanish-speaking girl. The first three narrate the story, which follows them from gentrifying Echo Park to beach-adjacent Torrance on a quest to find Quentin's mother; it's unclear why Hennessey (The Other Boy) leaves Mara's voice absent, but the omission seems unfair. Nevaeh is the voice of brutal realism: regarding Louis Sachar's Holes, she observes: "It was nice to get a happy ending for a change, even when it was totally unbelievable." Hennessey is honest about the realities of deportation and foster care but manages to create a believably gentle conclusion for her characters. And she earns her ending, in which the group moves beyond survival-based existences to looking out for each other and becomes a family in the process. Ages 8 12.
