Marisol Rainey is an imaginative eight-year-old student who lives in a small town in Louisiana. She lives with her mother—who is originally from the Philippines; her brother Oz— short for Osgood; and her father—who lives with them part-time when he’s not busy working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Marisol loves silent movies and giving meaningful names to inanimate objects that are important to her; she names the large magnolia tree in her backyard Peppina. Marisol’s fear of climbing Peppina looms over her throughout the summer as she and her best friend Jada spend time together. Over the course of the summer, and with the support of her family and friends, Marisol learns to face her fears.
