• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7
• Reading age: 9 to 12

Sara isn't great with strangers: she has selective mutism, so being in a new place isn't always easy.

Sara's little brother is born premature. He looks small and red, like a baby bird, so she calls him Birdy. Because she can't visit him often, she writes him letters about everything that's happened since he's been born—like how her mom and stepdad are sending her to Toronto to stay with her half-sister, Abby. And how Abby lives in this amazing storage container house on a vacant lot and hopes to build a whole community of them for unhoused people. Sara discovers she too has ways of getting things done—like passing the librarian a note asking for books instead of saying it out loud, or talking to the dogs at the homeless encampment as a way of meeting their people. When she sees that the mayor and the police are making things harder for the unhoused community, Sara realizes she can be an advocate—through her letters—and that there's more than one way to stand up for what you believe in and make your voice heard.

Gabrielle Prendergast is a UK-born Canadian/Australian who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with her husband and daughter. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. Gabrielle is the author of the verse novels Capricious and Audacious, which was shortlisted for a CLA Award, and The Frail Days in the Orca Limelights and the middle-grade novel Pandas on the Eastside. For More information, visit www.angelhorn.com.

Gabrielle Prendergast's profile page

“The novel showcases how Sara develops her own voice in her own way and uses it to make a difference. Reminiscent of Ann Braden’s The Benefits of Being an Octopus (2018) and Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer’s To Night Owl from Dogfish (2019), this book is a perfectly paced, heartwarming choice for middle-grade readers drawn to stories of activism.”

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