Ada is a kime, short for chimera—a child with animal genes and traits. So far kimes have only been born on Long Island, where a former conference and retreat center has been converted to a place kime children can grow up away from the general population, since they are generally feared and despised. Twelve-year-old Ada’s particular animal trait is exceptional eyesight—she sees far more of the spectrum than human eyes can. There is no obvious physical manifestation and her scientist father has helped keep her secret. Now mandatory genetic testing at school has given her away. Taken to the center, which is both refuge and prison, Ada is still reeling from what feels like her father’s betrayal—he didn’t fight against the authorities taking her—when she notices a strange blue light that no one else can see. It appears to be an intelligent being trying to communicate with her. As she investigates, she’s also navigating relationships among other kime children, whose various animal traits are sometimes astonishing, and who each bear the scars of society and family rejection differently. When the light leads Ada to a disturbing discovery, she doesn’t know whom among them she can trust. Ada’s constant state of uncertainty makes for a tense and satisfying story exploring ethics, prejudice, social justice, and survival of humanity and Earth itself. (Ages 9-13)

Twelve-year-old Ada is a Chimera, born with human and animal DNA thanks to a genetic experiment gone wrong. Because being a "kime" is believed to be contagious, she has kept her condition--complete with infrared vision--hidden. But a surprise test outs her, and Ada is shipped off to a quarantined school for kimes.

There Ada meets kids of many different shapes, stripes, and appendages, such as a girl with dragonfly wings and a seal-boy. As she adjusts to her new life, Ada senses that the facility is keeping a secret that could upend everything the world knows about Chimeras. But will someone put a stop to her efforts to uncover the truth?