An unflinching look at a patchwork social services system, its underprivileged dependents, and their battle-weary caretakers, Little Ravens is the eagerly awaited sequel to Frank Bardessono's critically acclaimed debut novel, The Kindness of Ravens. The saga of existential antihero Daren Capriati continues as he navigates the fractured lives of disabled children and their eccentric advocates. Fans of the author's insightful, graphic style will find it thriving in his latest work, a powerful tale driven by Bardessono's signature dark humor and gritty realism. Set three years after the events of The Kindness of Ravens, Daren is now a lead counselor at the Los Alamos dorm, an intake unit serving the special needs of six unique teenagers at the Santa Crisca Residential Institute for the Developmentally Disabled. Gathered from psych wards, broken homes, and the streets, the dorm residents live with a variety of disabilities ranging from personality disorders to autism. Recovering from a devastating loss three years earlier, Daren's good at his job nonetheless, perhaps due to his peculiar yet hard-won accords with reality. Assisted by his coworkers - Heather Fox, an elegant authoritarian obsessed with keeping order, Alex Sawyer, Daren's oldest friend presently wrestling with a fierce bout of nymphomania, Janet Blueheart, an eco-warrior lesbian drawn to lost causes, Rebecca Morgan, a British expat hiding a desolate past in prostitution, and Casey West, a drifting bombshell haunted by dark memories of abuse - Daren soon discovers his peers are no less complicated or damaged than the kids under their supervision. He forms a precarious bond with Tara Martinez, a spitfire Latina hardened from a cycle of neglect in the violent barrios of central Los Angeles, and the Los Alamos crew may be her last chance before a transfer to a lockdown state hospital. Desperate to make a breakthrough with Tara and avoid her pending institutionalization, Daren hopes that in guiding her toward redemption, he'll also find some of his own.