When Hurricane Jessamine assaults North Carolina, the Highground Home for Children is threatened by a once-in-a-lifetime floodThirteen-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)

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 pecially 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.

When Hurricane Jessamine assaults North Carolina, the Highground Home for Children is threatened by a once-in-a-lifetime floodThirteen-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)