Genie's summer is full of surprises. The first is that he and his big brother, Ernie, are leaving Brooklyn for the very first time to spend the summer with their grandparents all the way in Virginia. The second surprise comes when Genie figures out that their grandfather is blind. Genie thinks Grandpop must be the bravest guy he's ever known, but he starts to notice that his grandfather never leaves the house. And when he finds the secret room that Grandpop is always disappearing into, he begins to wonder if his grandfather is really so brave after all.

Eleven-year-old Genie develops a special bond with his grandfather when he and his brother travel from Brooklyn for a month-long stay with their grandparents in rural Virginia.

"When two brothers decide to prove how brave they are, everything backfires--literally"--