Nancy J. Cavanaugh

Homeschooled by her mechanic-environmentalist father, eleven-year-old Rachel "Ratchet" Vance records her efforts to make friends, save a park, remember her mother, and find her own definition of "normal."

In this story about unlikely friendships and finding your place in the world, three very different girls, adopted as babies from the same Chinese orphanage, spend a week at a summer camp, where the adoption agency coordinator wants them to journal their "bonding" experience.

Samantha's journal relates a boring visit to her grandmother's condominium that takes an unexpected turn when she, Gram, Gram's friend Mimi, and Mimi's grandson Brandon set out across Florida for a seniors' karaoke contest. Includes recipe for chocolate chip cookies.