SOLVED. Middle Grade novel about an eccentric girl who collects shells. [s]

[Destiny]

I’m looking for two middle grade contemporary novels by the same author, published before or around 2007. The first book deals with an eccentric girl, I can’t remember what happens to her parents but she ends up moving in with a family and struggles to fit in. I remember she collected things such as rocks and shells and had messy hair - she was probably like 11. There is also an older and younger brother in the book who she befriends. She ends up being adopted by a neighbor who is a single woman and I think she might have been a scientist? She had the same interests as the girl.

In the second book it mainly focuses on the brothers but the girl from the first book is there as well. They are on vacation in a small beach town staying with a relative, they end up getting stuck in a boat and have to use a flare. The older brother has a crush on a girl and I remember there is a stone with him and his brothers’ handprints on it that he touches for good luck.

That’s all I can remember, I read it in middle school!

[Becca]

Anna Casey's Place in the World (about the girl) and My Brother's Hero (about the brothers) by Adrian Fogelin look like a match

[Destiny]

OMG yes it’s Anna Casey’s Place in the World! Thank you so so much!