Gigi and her older sister, Yasmin, are spending the summer at a Jewish bungalow colony in upstate New York, thanks to their dad, who will be the handyman there. Sure, there will be day camp to go to, and the forest to explore, and maybe new friends to make. But Gigi doesn’t feel she fits in. Despite the fact that she’s Jewish too, she can’t help but feel that her Judaism is totally different from the other kids’. It doesn’t help that Mom isn’t around to talk to—she’s back in Brooklyn working. Yasmin has her own friends, and even though her dad speaks five languages, he and Gigi never seem to be speaking the same one.
There’s only one thing Gigi can do—escape. So, she hatches a plan to run away. But unexpected surprises keep drawing her back. Like, why do the boys at the camp keep doing flips? What kind of lake has fish with mustaches? Can Gigi sneakily use her dad’s tools to build a secret treehouse?
Try as she might, Gigi can’t figure out why everyone else loves this place so much. Will she eventually find her way back home, or will she—just maybe—discover something special hidden within the colony?
Goldy Moldavsky was born in Lima, Peru, and grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives. Her novels include the New York Times bestseller Kill the Boy Band, the Publishers Weekly bestseller The Mary Shelley Club, and Of Earthly Delights. Her books have appeared on numerous Best Books lists and have been published in a dozen languages. She can be found on X and Instagram @goldywrites.