Hotel Oscar Mike Echo - by Linda MacKillop (Paperback)

About the Book

A compassionate look at homelessness and hope, this middle-grade novel follows eleven-year-old Sierra as she faces her mother's PTSD and learns to redefine home.

Book Synopsis

Christianity Today 2024 Book Awards, Young Adults category, Finalist

Home isn't always what we dream it will be.

Eleven-year-old Sierra just wants a normal life. After her military mother returns from the war overseas, the two hop from home to homelessness while Sierra tries to help her mom through the throes of PTSD.

When they end up at a shelter for women and children, Sierra is even more aware of what her life is not. The kind couple who run the shelter, Mr. and Mrs. Goodwin, attempt to show her parental love as she faces the uncertainties of her mom's emotional health and the challenges of being the brand-new poor kid in middle school. The longer she stays at the shelter, the more Sierra realizes she may have to face an impossible choice as she redefines home.

This middle-grade novel offers a compassionate look at poverty, homelessness, and hope. Readers walk alongside brave Sierra as she holds on to a promise she believes God gave her: that one day she will have a real home. But what if that promise looks far different than she has ever dreamed?

Review Quotes

"Linda MacKillop's Hotel Oscar Mike Echo is the kintsugi of stories, taking the shards of real-life brokenness and lacing it whole with gold. Endearing, enduring--Sierra's story will leave you pondering all that is hard, yet hopeful about her story . . . and your own."
-Rachel Marie Kang, author of Let There Be Art and founder of The Fallow House
"A beautiful story! Linda MacKillop captures both the awkwardness and sincerity of a middle-school girl trying to grow up in a family well-acquainted with pain. She ends this story with hope--although, maybe not in the way you'd expect."
-Dr. Stephanie R. Griswold, PsyD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist

"Little 11-year-old Sierra wins my heart from the first page of this amazingly heartwarming story. I quickly became sucked into the girl's imagination and dreams and immediately started to root for her through the twists and turns of her hard life. This story is for middle-graders as well as any adult who empathizes with a young heart's desire for love and safety and stability. MacKillop's writing is remarkably inviting and paints a vivid picture of longing and the needs of a young girl. I can't wait to share Sierra and Hotel Oscar Mike Echo (HOME) with my daughter."
-Katara Patton, author of bestselling devotional Navigating the Blues: Where to Turn When Worry, Anxiety, or Depression Steals Your Hope

"With grace and ease, Linda MacKillop gently ushers young readers into a story that tugs and pulls at the heartstrings like no other. Hotel Oscar Mike Echo is a captivating read that doesn't shy away from hard topics and hoped-for promises, with cliffhanger chapter endings that leave you breathless for more. I can't recommend it highly enough."
-Cara Meredith, author of The Color of Life

About the Author

Linda Mackillop writes stories for both adults and kids. She and her husband, Bill, raised four sons in a book-filled home with nightly read-aloud time. Her favorite read-aloud place is a tent, preferably on the water. After living in Virginia for many years, she now resides outside of Chicago in an empty nest. Linda earned her MFA degree in creative writing from the Rainier Writing Workshop and strives to put life's broken pieces and people together again through stories filled with heart and charm. You can learn more about her at lindamackillop.com.