A boy with a red backpack visits the library often, checking out books that let him imagine himself into distant worlds. The librarian, a witch, watches him, sensing the stories the boy needs as he keeps visiting. From The Runaway Prince _as a starting pointto Harry Potter as a soul-soother, _the boy keeps reading with a desperation that the witch-librarian notices. Over time, the boy—a part of the foster system—becomes more depressed. At one point, a social worker brings him in to find a more "practical" book, thinking a nonfiction book about depression may help him more than the stories he used to escape. There are certain rules in both of the witch-librarian's worlds: the world of the witch and the world of the library. No patrons in the library after closing; late fees will be charged; and magical books are to be secreted away into special rooms and never, ever loaned out. Despite this, out of pure compassion, the witch-librarian allows the boy to spend a particularly dark night in the library and lends him a one of those special books. The book, A Witches Guide to Escape, literally launches the boy into a distant world, finally giving him the escape he seeks.