Two years after his mom’s death, Theo, 12, who is white, is going on a vacation with his dad and older sister, Laura, to Big Bend National Park. Only their dad is excited about the trip, which involves an eight-hour drive and camping, although Laura negotiates a stay at the lodge as well. The two siblings go along with their dad’s desires but are far from thrilled, especially when the family joins up on a hike with an avid birdwatcher and his social-media-fame-obsessed teenage son. After 24 hours with Leonard and Leo, the upcoming surprise their dad has promised for the last two days of the vacation is looking better and better, but it turns out to be a bombshell: They’ll be spending the last couple of nights with their dad’s sort-of girlfriend, Lucrecia. Theo and Laura hadn’t even known their dad had a girlfriend, which is clearly what Lucrecia is, even if their dad denies it. This laugh-out-loud middle-grade debut is as moving as it is funny. Theo’s voice, and the sibling and family interactions, are authentic, captivating, and often hilarious, but healing is at the heart of the story. While life coach Lucrecia’s desire to connect with each of the siblings backfires, it opens lines of communication that had been closed as Theo and Laura finally start talking about their grief and anger at the silence that has surrounded their huge loss two years prior. (Ages 9-13)

Gordon Korman meets The Great Outdoors in this funny and moving debut about a boy who goes on a disastrous family vacation (sweltering heat! bear chases!) that ends with a terrible surprise: his dad's new girlfriend.

There are zero reasons for Theo Ripley to look forward to his family vacation. Not only are he, sister Laura, and nature-obsessed Dad going to Big Bend, the least popular National Park, but once there, the family will be camping. And Theo is an indoor animal. It doesn't help that this will be the first vacation they're taking since Mom passed away.

Once there, the family contends with 110 degree days, wild bears, and an annoying amateur ornithologist and his awful teenage vlogger son. Then, Theo's dad hits him with a whopper of a surprise: the whole trip is just a trick to introduce his secret new girlfriend.

Theo tries to squash down the pain in his chest. But when it becomes clear that this is an auditioning-to-be-his-stepmom girlfriend, Theo must find a way to face his grief and talk to his dad before his family is forever changed.