On the Road to Happy - by Goldy Moldavsky (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From New York Times bestselling author comes a must-read middle-grade novel for fans of The Vanderbeekers on the Road, The Firefly Summer, and To Night Owl From Dogfish. This big-hearted story follows a girl who might just be in for a life-changing summer. . . if she doesn't run away first.

Gigi and her older sister, Yasmin, are spending the summer at a Jewish bungalow colony in upstate New York, thanks to their dad, who will be the handyman there. Sure, there will be day camp to go to, and the forest to explore, and maybe new friends to make. But Gigi doesn't feel she fits in. Despite the fact that she's Jewish too, she can't help but feel that her Judaism is totally different from the other kids'. It doesn't help that Mom isn't around to talk to--she's back in Brooklyn working. Yasmin has her own friends, and even though her dad speaks five languages, he and Gigi never seem to be speaking the same one.

There's only one thing Gigi can do--escape. So, she hatches a plan to run away. But unexpected surprises keep drawing her back. Like, why do the boys at the camp keep doing flips? What kind of lake has fish with mustaches? Can Gigi sneakily use her dad's tools to build a secret treehouse?

Try as she might, Gigi can't figure out why everyone else loves this place so much. Will she eventually find her way back home, or will she--just maybe--discover something special hidden within the colony?

Review Quotes

"This book gave me the strongest childhood nostalgia, portraying a quintessentially Jewish American experience through a nuanced, multicultural lens. It's deeply and wonderfully steeped in summer, friendship, culture, coming of age, being first-gen, and finding different ways to show and understand love, and I adored every minute of it so much, I'm still craving creamsicles!" - Dahlia Adler, award-winning author of Going Bicoastal