"Beautiful and wise, [this] is a gem of a book." --Adam Gidwitz,
Newbery Honor-winning author of The Inquisitor's Tale
Just right for fans of Pam Muñoz Ryan, this story of moving out and
moving on is a touching portrayal of the experience of leaving one's
home country and making new friends--sometimes where least expected.
Eleven-year-old Carolina's summer--and life as she knows it--is upended
when Papi loses his job and she and her family must move from Puerto
Rico to her Tía Cuca and Uncle Porter's house in upstate New York. Now
Carolina must attend Silver Meadows Camp, where her bossy older cousin
Gabriela rules the social scene.
Just as Carolina worries she'll have to spend the entire summer in
Gabriela's shadow, she makes a friend of her own in Jennifer, a fellow
artist. Carolina gets another welcome surprise when she stumbles upon a
long-abandoned cottage in the woods near the campsite and immediately
sees its potential as a creative haven for making art. There, with
Jennifer, Carolina begins to reclaim the parts of the life she loved in
Puerto Rico and forgets about how her relationship with Mami has changed
and how distant Papi has become.
But when the future of Silver Meadows and the cottage is thrown into
jeopardy, Carolina and--to everyone's surprise--Gabriela come up with a
plan to save them. Will it work?