Caleb has cystic fibrosis and his mother and brother are all over the idea of making life comfortable for him. However, their constant involvement, from his mother harping over him to his brother's seeming perfection and unfaltering watchfulness, is driving Caleb crazy. When he meets Kit in the woods behind his house, he wonders if he has met a member of the fey rather than a little girl with too little adult supervision. Kit lives in a house in the woods, and she prefers to keep her family concealed from Caleb's prying. Together, the two of them make an unlikely pair, but with Caleb reaching a particularly rebellious phase, Kit seems like just the friend he wants. Her mantra seems to be, "I do what I want." That's very appealing to a child whose life revolves around a regular schedule of assistance and supervision. Of course, Caleb has a lot to learn and Kit's life of complete freedom isn't actually the dream that it seemed to be at first. As Kit's antics cause Caleb more and more trouble, and his newfound rebellious habits put his fragile health at risk, an inevitable collision with reality becomes more and more inevitable. Caleb is going to have to come to some difficult self-realizations and mature decisions, and he is only just coming to realize the true measure of what he's stumbled into.

I loved this book because it was unblinkingly honest. Caleb was no hero. He was just a kid learning about himself and what he could and should do. Not everything ends up being neatly resolved and the characters all take a beating along the way. Caleb makes some decisions that aren't so great and sometimes he does the right thing, but either way he finds that he has to come to terms with the consequences. It's a powerful story, one to which readers will certainly react strongly. Very impressive.

I have mixed feelings. This book is well written and the characters are dynamic and full of life. You feel exactly where Caleb is at, the frustration of his mom and brother, and the sparkle of incredible that Kit is. Kit's character made my heart thrill and ache. Strong lessons about learning truthfulness and looking beyond yourself, coming to see that your parents are on your side, and what it means to love a friend when it takes making difficult choices curl through the whole book. The side notes from nature that point to these lessons were lovely. I'm not sure I liked the ending. It was true to life, but also felt like a dash of cold water.