Echo's Sister

by Paul Mosier

Overview

From critically acclaimed author Paul Mosier, a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, comes a stunning story about the beauty of family, the power of community, and ultimately the strength of the human spirit.

Twelve-year-old El has planned on making her first week at a new school fantastic. She won’t go by her given name, Laughter. She’ll sit in the back of the classroom where she can make new friends. She won’t even have time to think about all the fun her old friends are having without her. Everything will be great.

But when her dad picks her up after school and tells her that her younger sister, Echo, has a life-threatening illness, her world is suddenly turned upside down. And with her parents now pressed for time and money, El feels lost and powerless.

Then she befriends Octavius, the only other kid in school who gets what she’s going through. As El begins to adjust to her new life, she soon finds that maybe a little hope and a lot of love can overcome any obstacle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062455673
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	08/07/2018
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	1,033,004
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Paul Mosier began writing novels in 2011 but has written in some fashion his entire life. He is married and the father to two daughters, one of whom has passed to the next dimension. He lives near his place of birth in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. He loves listening to baseball on the radio, eating vegetarian food, drinking coffee, and talking nonstop. He has written three critically acclaimed books for middle grade readers: Train I Ride, Echo’s Sister, and Summer and July. Visit him on his blog, novelistpaulmosier.wordpress.com.

Editorial Reviews

Mosier writes from the older sibling’s perspective which gives this novel a fresh viewpoint. The details and dialogue ring true and will give middle graders an empathetic window into an emotional and deeply personal familial experience. A poignant tale.” — School Library Journal

“Books like Echo’s Sister are the reason authors are told to ‘write what you know.’ Paul Mosier breaks your heart a dozen times over, then patches it back up so that it’s somehow larger than when you started.” — Sarah Miller, author of Miss Spitfire

“Immediate and heartfelt. Ultimately positive and uplifting, but readers should keep a box of tissues nearby.” — Kirkus Reviews

★“Accessible and compelling. [An] absorbing novel.” — ALA Booklist (starred review)

From the Publisher

Books like Echo’s Sister are the reason authors are told to ‘write what you know.’ Paul Mosier breaks your heart a dozen times over, then patches it back up so that it’s somehow larger than when you started.

Sarah Miller

★“Accessible and compelling. [An] absorbing novel.

ALA Booklist (starred review)

01/01/2018
Gr 5–8—The author's latest novel tackles the subject of childhood cancer and offers readers a window into a sibling's point of view. El is a seventh grader from New York who recently found out that her six-year-old sister Echo has cancer. The diagnosis turns the family inside out. El must deal with the swarm of new feelings inside herself and all around her. Mosier writes from the older sibling's perspective which gives this novel a fresh viewpoint over other novels that explore this subject. The details and dialogue ring true and will give middle graders an empathetic window into an emotional and deeply personal familial experience. VERDICT A realistic fiction story that reads like a biography, this poignant tale is a strong addition for any collection serving older elementary and middle school readers.—Elizabeth Pelayo, St. Charles East High School, IL

School Library Journal

2018-04-25
Cancer invades a family, but their own strong ties and those of their artistic community provide them with hope and much-needed assistance.It's the first day of school for seventh-grader Laughter—who prefers to be called El—at the same private arts academy in Greenwich Village her parents attended. She is excited about the coming year until she learns from her father that her 6-year-old sister, Echo, has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. El's family is close-knit and loving, but that doesn't protect either sister. El's reaction to the cancer is visceral: "And her tumor is growing. I can practically hear it." She goes through periods of denial, anger, and grief. Fortunately, the family stays resilient and adopts a motto— "ALL FOR ONE—AND ALL FOUR ONE"—to maintain their focus. Their financial woes are offset by an incredible outpouring of support from the local artistic community and the school. El's friends, both old and new, also join in the efforts. Mosier tells El's story in a first-person narrative that makes it more immediate and heartfelt. The diagnosis, treatment, and outlook for the cancer are explained well and integrated into the narrative. Race and ethnicity are not a factor in the story; they default to white. There is, however, one gratuitous mention of a mother and daughter who "have beautiful coffee-colored skin."Ultimately positive and uplifting, but readers should keep a box of tissues nearby. (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews