Where the Water Takes Us

Debut author Alan Barillaro delivers a stirring story about a sensitive, shaken young girl who must face that growing up means coming to terms with the things you cannot change—and taking responsibility for the things you can.

Ava’s mom is about to have twins, and the pregnancy isn’t going well. All Ava wants to do is stay by her mother’s side, but instead, she is sent away to stay with her grandparents. Normally, spending time at the lake with Nonna and Nonno is wonderful. But everything is different now. While her mom’s hospital visits are getting serious back home, Ava grapples with anxiety. As summer storms rock the island, electricity goes out at the cabin, and an annoyingly cheerful boy named Cody seems determined to pop up everywhere she goes. Ava can’t be distracted from the feeling that something terrible, something irrevocable, is going to happen to her mom while she is gone.
When a bird dies in front of her, Ava is sure it is a sign that she is cursed—the last thing she, or her family, needs. But if a curse has been placed on her, there must a way to break it. So Ava makes a deal: If she can take care of two orphaned bird eggs, she will have paid off her debt, and her family will be alright.
With everyone she loves on the line, Ava will do everything in her power to make sure that her mom, her twin baby brothers, her birds, and even Cody all come through the summer safely.

Alan Barillaro is the Academy Award–winning writer and director of the animated short film Piper and has been supervising animator on many other popular theatrical releases, including The Incredibles, Incredibles 2, WALL-E, and Brave. He began his career in animation at the age of sixteen and spent more than twenty-five years at Pixar Animation Studios. Alan Barillaro lives in the Bay Area, CA.

ISBN: 9781536224542
Format: Hardback
Pages: 208
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: July 11, 2023

Fast-flip the pages of this captivating novel by an Oscar-winning animator and the island birds on its bottom shore take flight, as its young heroine awaits news from the mainland of her mother’s high-risk delivery of twins.

—The New York Times Book Review

Warm intergenerational relationships, strongly drawn characters, lyrical descriptions of nature, and nuanced depictions of Ava’s worries create an engrossing read that explores the boundary between childhood and adolescence. . . . Occasional, delicate watercolors and vignettes in the margins accompany this quietly powerful story. A lyrical and sensitively rendered coming-of-age tale.

—Kirkus Reviews

Filmmaker and debut author Barillaro’s third-person prose economically portrays Ava’s repeated anxious thoughts, rendering her an at once empathetic and resilient protagonist. The novel’s nail-biting climax is tempered by a comforting resolution, making for a well-rounded story about overcoming fear and embracing change.