So. Here it is. My summer journal. As you can see, I got a little carried away.

The problem is this, though. I don't want you to read it. I really mean it. I just wanted you to know I did it. I didn't want you to think I was one of those kids who says, `Oh yeah, I did it, but I lost it/my dog ate it/my little brother dropped it in the toilet.'

But please, PLEEASE DON'T READ IT! How was I to know all this stuff was going to happen to me this summer?

Mary Lou has what she calls a normally-strange family. That is, until her cousin Carl comes to stay. She had plans to enjoy the summer hanging out with her first ever crush, but there's something so quiet and sad about Carl, and Mary Lou knows that no one else in her chaotic home will bother to find out why. So it looks like it's up to her - and what she discovers is far from normal and rocks the family to its heart.