About this item
Aubrey and Joel are like two tomato vines that grew along the same crooked fence--weird, yet the same kind of weird. But lately, even their shared weirdness seems weird. Then Joel disappears. Vanishes. Poof. The whole town is looking for him, and Aubrey was the last person to see Joel. Aubrey can't say much, but since lies of omission are still lies, here's what they know for sure:
- For the last two weeks of the school year, when sixth grade became too much, Aubrey and Joel have been building a raft in the woods.
- The raft was supposed to be just another part of their running away game.
- The raft is gone now, too.
Aubrey doesn't know where Joel is, but they might know how to find him. As Aubrey, their friend Mari, and sister Teagan search along the river, Aubrey has to fess up to who they really are, all the things they never said, and the word that bully Rudy Thomas used that set all this into motion.
About the Author
Lin Thompson (they/them) is a former children's librarian, a Lambda Literary Fellow, and the author of two books for middle-grade readers: The Best Liars in Riverview (Little, Brown, 2022) , which was a JLG Gold Standard selection and appeared on the 2023 ALA Rainbow List, and The House That Whispers (Little, Brown, 2023) , also a JLG Gold Standard selection. Lin grew up playing pretend games in the backyard and basement of their home in Kentucky. Now they get to write pretend stories in the backyard and basement of their home in Iowa, where they live with their wife and cat.
