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The Echo Park castaways / M.G. Hennessey.

By: Hennessey, M. G [author.].
Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2019]Edition: First edition.Description: 200 pages ; 22 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9780062427694; 0062427695.Subject(s): Foster children -- Juvenile fiction | Brothers and sisters -- Juvenile fiction | Asperger's syndrome -- Juvenile fiction | Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Juvenile fiction | African Americans -- Juvenile fiction | Hispanic Americans -- Juvenile fiction | Foster children -- Fiction | Adventure and adventurers -- Fiction | Brothers and sisters -- Fiction | Asperger's syndrome -- Fiction | Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder -- Fiction | African Americans -- Fiction | Hispanic Americans -- Fiction | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General | African Americans | Asperger's syndrome | Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder | Brothers and sisters | Foster children | Hispanic Americans | Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Juvenile fiction | Los Angeles (Calif.) -- Fiction | California -- Los AngelesGenre/Form: Action and adventure fiction. | Action and adventure fiction. | Domestic fiction. | Fiction. | Juvenile works. | Adventure fiction. | Action and adventure fiction. | Domestic fiction.Summary: After going on a quest across Los Angeles together, Quentin, Vic, Nevaeh, and Mara, four very different foster children, realize that they have become a family.
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Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Shelving location Call number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Book Book Gloucester Twp. Fiction Children J Hen (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 05000010518186
Book Book Voorhees Fiction Children J Hen (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 05000010518228
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:



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

After going on a quest across Los Angeles together, Quentin, Vic, Nevaeh, and Mara, four very different foster children, realize that they have become a family.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

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. (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 4--7--Three foster siblings come together to help their newest foster brother find his mother in this heartbreaking story. Because their foster mother is too lost in her own grief to parent, eighth-grader Nevaeh cooks, cleans, and grudgingly cares for the younger children. Eleven-year-old Vic, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), lives in his own imaginary world where he is a secret agent sent on elaborate spy missions. Eight-year-old Mara appears quiet and lost and refuses to speak English. This is the home Quentin is dropped into. Quentin has Asperger's syndrome. He rarely speaks, and when he does, it doesn't always make sense to the other children. Crowds and noise make him nervous, causing him to want to hit his head or curl up and rock. While Nevaeh resents having another foster sibling to take care of, Vic fixates on the one thing he understands that Quentin wants--to see his mother, who is in the hospital. Deciding it's a mission only a secret agent can accomplish, Vic sneaks out with Quentin and Mara in tow on a journey to reunite Quentin with his mother. Realizing this could jeopardize everyone's foster placements, Nevaeh sets out to retrieve them. What follows is an adventure that ultimately brings all four children together as true siblings. The story's portrayal of Vic, a child with ADHD who often forgets his medication, feels authentic. The look inside Quentin's thoughts, contrasted with how others perceive him, is an accurate portrayal of a child on the spectrum. The one thing that doesn't make sense is Quentin's entry into the family with no real explanation of his needs or plan to help him acclimate to his surroundings. VERDICT Sweet and sad, but with enough action to keep realistic fiction readers invested until the end.--Kelly Roth, Bartow County Public Library, Cartersville, GA

Booklist Review

Autistic Quentin is placed in a foster home when his mother is in the hospital. Three children are already there under the care of Mrs. K., a despondent Russian widow. Neveah, 13, is extraordinarily responsible, hardworking, and no-nonsense. Vic, 11, pretends to be a government superspy in order to cope with the deportation of his father, his only living parent. Mara, 8, doesn't talk much, and no one is sure how much English she understands. Together, they are the eponymous Echo Park castaways, and Quentin seems to fit right in. The four of them set off on a quest for Quentin to visit his mother in the hospital. (Astute readers will probably be able to guess the outcome of that for Quentin.) Neveah, Vic, and Quentin (though, oddly, not Mara) alternate as first-person narrators, sometimes providing different perspectives of the same event. Each narrator's distinct personality comes through, and the reader can discern the changes each experiences through the journey. The four begin as individuals and ultimately end up as a family. Hennessey's story is vivid, convincing, funny, and heartwarming.

Kirkus Book Review

Three foster siblings band together to help their newest brother.Nevaeh (who's black), Vic (who's Salvadoran), and Mara (who's Latinx) know the ropes of the foster-care system, and they're in a pretty great situation with their current foster mom, Mrs. K. But their newest arrival, Quentin (who's white), doesn't know that, and with his Asperger's, he finds the new family overwhelming. All he wants is to track down his mother, who is sick with cancer. Vic, who identifies as a kid secret agent, decides that the way to help Quentin is to take him on a quest to find his mom in the hospital (a few towns away), and he's the person for the job. What he doesn't count on is little Mara tagging along and Nevaeh taking it upon herself as the oldest to bring them all home. The narration alternates among three of the four kids (Mara, who speaks Spanish, never gets to tell her side of the story), each with a particular role in the family. The portrayals of Quentin's Asperger's and Vic's ADHD are respectful, but the overall construction of the book is chaotic, with so many quick switches from character to character that readers may be left fatigued or confused. Although Quentin's voice is distinct, Nevaeh's and Vic's are similar enough that readers have to pay particularly close attention.Heartfelt but exhausting. (Fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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