Almost Flying

Dalia has modest ambitions for summer: ride a roller coaster and find a best friend. Her father’s unexpected engagement complicates both, especially when the adults insist she spend time with her future stepsister, Alexa. Dalia proposes a compromise: join Alexa’s amusement-park road trip and invite Rani, a girl from her swim team. The trip introduces Dalia to Alexa’s girlfriend and to feelings of her own that she has never quite understood. Between rides, family adjustments and secrets, friendship starts to mean something different. This middle-grade story follows a first crush alongside the discovery that a changing family might also bring unexpected sources of belonging.