See all Posts in the Book Nook Series

It is my grandson’s favorite book at the moment; he keeps checking it out and re-reading it and asked for a copy as a gift. So of course I bought it and read it before giving it to him.

He says of the book, “I like that Scarlet was super independent and I like that she takes such good care of her brother.”

Scarlet, age 12, is caring for her 8-year-old half-brother and barely functional mom. Scarlet is going to school, making meals, cleaning and dealing with social services. And she’s trying to pretend that everything is fine.

Her brother, Red, has Asperger’s and loves birds, bird feathers, and loves that a pigeon has a nest on his window ledge. When the egg hatches, he watches the baby bird as it develops.

Scarlet and Red visit the Zoo whenever they can afford it; one of the ticket sellers at the gate knows them and lets them in for free, then their money can be used for lunch and transportation.

But everything crashes down when Scarlet comes home from school one day to see her building on fire. Her mother fell asleep with a lit cigarette. Her mother and brother are taken away (for smoke inhalation) and Scarlet is put into foster care in another part of London.

She is desperate to find her brother, and uses her wits and friends to find him and keep him safe … for a while, anyway. The community who helps her is amazing: neighbors from their old building, the bird man at the zoo, and a scary elderly lady who lives near Scarlet’s new school, “Baba Yaga.”

Her new foster family and her new friends at school help in their own ways, as does the dreaded social Worker, Mrs. Gideon.

Author Gill Lewis is a veterinarian and lives in the UK. She has more books for children, among them: “Wild Wings,” “Gorilla Dawn,” “One White Dolphin,” “Moon Bear” and “Swan Song.”