middle school

Billy Dickens isn’t your typical tween. He is obsessed with snakes, doesn't put up with bullies, and has had it with absent parents. His dad has been out of the picture for as long as he can remember; so when Billy finally gets ahold of his address, the savvy kid travels to Montana to track him down. What he finds instead is a stepsister, Summer, and a stepmother, Lil. Unfortunately, his dad is not so easy to track down. As the summer continues, Billy does find his father but that is just the beginning of his wild adventures that include hiking mountains, floating rivers, shooting down drones, dodging grizzly bears, and figuring out a lot about his family.

Soon after their mother’s death, 15-year-old Ben and his two younger brothers are stunned when their father sells their home, buys a sailboat, and announces that they will live onboard and cruise the Bahamas for the next year. Tensions flare continually between Ben and his father, both grieving and broken. But they gradually learn to live together in close quarters and navigate the many nautical chores. Then one morning the boys wake up to discover their father has disappeared--and they are lost at sea. What happened to their dad? Where are they? And what will they do when a terrible storm looms on the horizon?