THE HIKE TO HOME

Feeling abandoned by her filmmaker mom, who’s on a yearlong residency in the Dry Tortugas, a tween finds friendship, mystery, and adventure in a small New Jersey town.

Lin loves her family’s unusual lifestyle. Her dad restores old houses around the country, while her mom films the process for their popular YouTube channel. The three occupy a souped-up bus that they move from location to location. With Mom away and Dad occupied, Lin—formerly home-schooled, now enrolled in public school summer rec camp—is bored and disgruntled. That is, until she’s befriended by pink-haired classmate Tinsley. When Lin confides her intention to make a film about her summer, Tinsley’s thrilled. Their friendship evolves to include Leo, a shy, overparented King Arthur buff who tells Lin about an abandoned castle believed to lie nearby, off the Appalachian Trail. Tinsley confides that her dad’s Freemason lodge has long unsuccessfully sought the castle. Lin persuades them to break into the lodge to search for clues to its presumed whereabouts and then to join her on an overnight camping trip to find it. Things get more complicated when they’re pursued by a trio of bullies who intend to capitalize on any exciting discoveries. Meandering at first, the pace picks up with the search for the castle—as do the stakes. Rinker’s affinity for treasure-seeking quests serves readers well, as do her clear interest in and affection for the natural world. Characters default to White.

An enjoyably alfresco romp.