Everything's coming up roses in the Children's Department...er, petunias, that is.

This is a slow-burn but powerful coming-of-age novel about a girl who goes to the wilderness to find herself. Ginny is doing all the "right things" - getting straight A's, playing competitive tennis, pleasing her parents, etc. But when she finds out how urgent climate change is and what might be lost if the adults in charge don't act immediately, she can't understand why no one else seems to feel as upset as she does about it. She ends up attending a wilderness camp that is sort of a therapeutic program for "troubled" youth, where she is the only girl among some strange boys and exhaustingly upbeat yet nitpicky counselors. But as she gets to know what motivates her fellow campers and experiences the Montana mountain setting, she begins to find her way and figures some stuff out. This is a sophisticated, nuanced, slow-paced book best for upper-elementary-readers. It has a great message without being preachy or on-the-nose. The dialogue and Ginny's struggles are rendered realistically and empathetically. -Anne W