In an exciting wilderness adventure, three cousins are cut off from their parents by a huge earthquake—and must hike long and treacherous mountain trails back to safety, with only each other to rely on. During a hiking trip with their parents in the mountains of California, cousins Owen, Vivian, and Amy are finally allowed to camp for one night at a little lake all on their own . But when a massive earthquake blocks their return path, there’s only one way home: the long way around, through a wilderness filled with fierce animals, raging rivers, unstable weather, and high passes. The hardest challenges the cousins face, however, are the troubles they’ve brought with them: bold Vivian’s fear of starting middle school and of changes she can’t control, Owen’s lingering emotional scars from a car accident, and Amy’s desire to live in stories rather than in boring regular life. Drawing on courage and humor, the cousins weather storms, make the most of dwindling rations, and face their deepest fears in order to bring each other safely home. This gripping contemporary novel from celebrated author Anne Nesbet is bursting with excitement, rich natural settings, and characters who will have readers rooting for them all the way. This is a tale of adventure and survival, but it’s far from grim; instead, it’s filled with effervescent writing and humorous dialogue. . . . If a story about three kids alone in the mountains with little food could ever be described as cheerful and uplifting, this one is it. . . . A sparkling tale of survival. —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Perfect for fans of adventure stories. —Booklist The plot—told in the third person and never too harrowing—is fast-paced and rich in setting. Sights, sounds, and smells are vividly delineated, creating a picturesque backdrop to center the cousins’ journey and its transformative effects. —The Horn Book Skilled storyteller Anne Nesbet understands what makes kids tick, and this book’s wilderness thrills will be irresistible to young readers. —Literary Hub A fast-paced adventure that forces three children to make decisions about survival and come to terms with some grown-up issues. —School Library Journal Anne Nesbet is the author of the historical middle-grade novels Cloud and Wallfish , The Orphan Band of Springdale , Daring Darleen: Queen of the Screen , and V Is for Victorine , as well as three fantasy novels for middle-graders. Her books have received numerous accolades, including multiple starred reviews and appearances on many best book and notable lists. A professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Anne Nesbet lives with her family in the San Francisco Bay Area. 1 Three Cousins in a Car Sometimes adventures start with a big boom or a mysterious letter or a knock at the door—and sometimes they simply begin at a little after six a.m. in the back seat of a very crowded car. That car wasn’t moving yet, but it was already jam-packed with backpacks, sleeping bags, snacks, legs, and various moods. Not a spare cubic inch anywhere for anything extra—Amy had not even been allowed to bring her stuffed seal, Sealy, and she did feel a little bitter about that, because she liked having a friend along she could tell stories to during the day and then lean against, like a soft and comfy pillow, when it was time to close her eyes and snooze.    But Amy was only eight and unable to make the world bend in the direction she preferred, whereas when her sister, Vivian, got her mind set on something, that something had a fair chance of happening, so here they all were.    That tells you what you most need to know about how Amy was feeling: no Sealy, no stories, no soft plush coziness.    But three cousins had just been sardined into the back seat, and that meant there were at least three moods, not just one. Vivian, for instance, was as full of anticipation as a lightning bug is full of shine and fire, even though she was stuck in the middle seat, which she usually hated. But her mother had just pointed out that her cousin, Owen, and his dad (Vivian and Amy’s uncle) had come all the way from the East Coast for this trip, so it wouldn’t have been fair to make Owen sit in the middle, would it?    “Oh, hey, that’s okay, Aunt Judy,” Owen had said. He didn’t really care where he sat. It was one of the many things these days that turned out not to matter as much as they used to.    This was Viv’s big adventure, however, and no measly middle seat was going to mess with her joy. She had darted into that car without even the ghost of a fuss, then leaned over and grinned up into her mother’s surprised face.    “Come on , everyone!” she said. “We’ve got to get there !”    “There” in this case was Campsite A46 on the River Loop of the campground in Sequoia National Park!    Which was really almost the actual trailhead! Where everything glorious would start!    And it was now only six hours away!    Vivian was practically made of exclamation points right