Review by Booklist Review
A resident since toddlerhood at the North Carolina Highland Home for Children, 13-year-old Sylvia Doe has run away from multiple foster placements. As she makes her way back to HHFC from her latest family, she is caught up in a cataclysmic 100-year hurricane and flood that unearth all sorts of creatures that are out of place and time. After saving a young teen from drowning, she becomes involved in getting him back home, which is more difficult than she anticipates. The quick-paced story combines adventure, mystery, history, sci-fi, and Earth advocacy to give a variety of readers a memorable ride. In Beatty's exciting tale, text and interspersed drawings provide excellent animal studies. Fans of the author's previous two series (Serafina and Willa), as well as Andrea Beatriz Arango's Something Like Home (2023), will applaud Beatty's latest and appreciate its characterizations--especially that of Sylvia, who is a headstrong and heart-driven heroine with broad appeal. Trigger warnings for foster care, murder, student deaths, and violent weather.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Amnesiac 13-year-old Sylvia Doe has considered Highground Home for Children in the North Carolina mountains her safe haven ever since she was found by Highground staff at age four. As a devout naturalist, she feels uneasy anywhere else; she's run away from every foster home she's been placed in, returning faithfully to Highground. Upon fleeing from another foster family during a hurricane, she discovers a flooded river that has morphed into a once-in-a-lifetime "100-year flood." Things that have no place in the present such as long-extinct animals appear along the river's current, as well as 13-year-old Jorna Grant, who has been carried far from home. When Sylvia rescues him, the pair soon realize that the solution to ending the flood may lie in getting Jorna home--but in the process, Sylvia could lose Highground. Beatty (Willa of Dark Hollow) pays tribute to the beauty and dangers of the natural world in this thoughtful tale. Sensorial descriptions focusing on Sylvia's love for her surroundings and passion for observing the environment mix with pulse-pounding action to craft a quietly magical adventure about finding where one belongs. Sylvia has brown skin; Jorna is Black. Ages 8--12. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman Literary. (Oct.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
When Hurricane Jessamine assaults North Carolina, the Highground Home for Children is threatened by a once-in-a-lifetime flood. Thirteen-year-old Sylvia Doe, who has brown skin and black hair, is a runaway who's fled yet another foster home to once again return to Highground, a transitional institution that offers equine therapy for children awaiting foster placement. But this time her journey back to Highground is driven by different concerns. As the hurricane batters the valley, unprecedented flooding threatens the horses, home, and people Sylvia cares about. She secretly hitches a ride in a logging truck, risking her life to save her beloved horses. She also helps Jorna Grant, a mysterious 13-year-old Black boy. Jorna is strange, and Sylvia can't quite figure him out, although he, too, seems "like a runner. And every runner has a reason." Her social worker tries to figure out a new placement where Sylvia will stay put, but Sylvia longs to remain at Highground permanently, even though North Carolina state rules won't allow it. She also has another goal: to find out where Jorna came from and help him return home. She's also convinced there's "something much more happening" with the flood. Adventurous and suspenseful, this story pairs environmental science content with a genre-blurring mystery. Field guide--style illustrations of the animals that Sylvia encounters on her journey add a valuable learning component that emphasizes the ecological themes present throughout the book. A page-turner that creatively explores resonant themes. (author's note)(Mystery. 10-14) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
