Overview

The first adventure in a rollicking, brilliantly imagined new middle grade series by award-winning poet and screenwriter Esta Spalding, with illustrations by rising new talent Sydney Smith. Kim Fitzgerald-Trout took to driving with ease--as most children would if their parents would ever let them try. She had to. After all, she and her siblings live in a car. Meet the Fitzgerald-Trouts, a band of four loosely related children living together on a lush tropical island. They take care of themselves. They sleep in their car, bathe in the ocean, eat fish they catch and fruit they pick, and can drive anywhere they need to go--to the school, the laundromat, or the drive-in. If they put their minds to it, the Fitzgerald-Trouts can do anything. Even, they hope, find a real home.

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Reviews

The Boxcar Children meet Dahl in a Hawaii-like setting here and it's all sorts of fun, with just enough snarkiness to add edge to the charm and wonder. A clever but subtle twist at the end adds even more amusement, and the overall effect is as pleasing as a tropical breeze. <b><i><i>The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books</i></b></i>

Have you ever wanted to live on an island filled with selfish grownups and blood-sucking iguanas hiding in a dark and mysterious forest? Me neither. But the brave and inventive Fitzgerald-Trouts have such fascinating lives that I just might reconsider--as soon as I read this glorious book again, at least twice. I salute thee, Fitzgerald-Trouts! Lemony Snicket, author of the bestselling series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions Spalding's playful tone takes the edge off the neglectful parents and dire circumstances, largely thanks to the plucky, self-reliant kids who know (rightly) they are better off on their own. Booklist The Boxcar Children meet Dahl in a Hawaii-like setting here and it's all sorts of fun, with just enough snarkiness to add edge to the charm and wonder. A clever but subtle twist at the end adds even more amusement, and the overall effect is as pleasing as a tropical breeze. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books These kids are witty, full of heart and genuinely fun to read about. The New York Times Book Review

Author Information

Esta Spalding is an acclaimed writer, poet and screenwriter who is currently at work adapting Kate Atkinson's novel Life After Life for Lionsgate Films and Jennifer Egan's novel A Visit from the Goon Squad for Sundance Television. She has garnered awards for her film and television work, as well as for her prose and poetry. This is her first middle grade novel.

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