Audrey Alcott knows when someone is lying. Every time. Every lie. This ability has made middle school miserable, but when her best friend betrays her, Audrey hits her breaking point. Her parents hope a summer away will change her mind, but Audrey is ready to give up on people entirely.

Aaron Archer is the equivalent of a walking encyclopedia. Anything he's ever read or heard gets filed away in his brain, word for word. But while he can recite all the facts and figures, he's not always sure how to put the pieces together. When an ill-thought-out scheme gets him into trouble at school, Aaron's parents decide to send him someplace where he can't rely on facts alone.

Audrey and Aaron end up at the same wilderness camp?a six-week intensive trek through the desert led by a former football player turned rugged outdoorsman with a chip on his shoulder. When the unthinkable happens, it'll take everything Audrey and Aaron have got to survive. And somewhere along the way, Audrey and Aaron begin to see that sometimes facts don't tell the whole story . . . and sometimes, to find the truth, you have to look beyond the lies.

Marisa de los Santos is a New York Times bestselling author and award-winning poet with a PhD in literature and creative writing. She lives in Wilmington, Delaware, with her family.

From Saving Lucas Biggs authors Marisa de los Santos and David Teague comes a heartwarming middle grade adventure about two misfits discovering the importance of just being themselves.

When thirteen-year-olds Aaron and Audrey meet at a wilderness camp in the desert, they think their quirks are enough to prevent them from ever having friends. But as they trek through the challenging and unforgiving landscape, they learn that they each have what it takes to make the other whole.

Luminous and clever, Connect the Stars takes on some hefty topics of the day—bullying, understanding where you fit in, and learning to live with physical and mental challenges—all in a joyous adventure kids will love!