Fifteen-year-old James has just discovered the magnificence of naturebut can he protect it from the phoniness of the material world?When his academic-minded parents decide to forsake civilization for a wilderness summer in the Sierra Nevada mountains, James Fielding figures he'll be counting the minutes until it's over. But in the woods one day, he comes upon a magnificent deer and becomes fascinated by its majesty and beauty. Then he meets two very different girls.Thirteen-year-old Griffin Donahue is ';pure and free and beautiful.' Diane Jarrett is a tanned, ';hot-pink-bikinied' goddess. Griffin is at one with nature. Diane is slumming at the nearby exclusive camp, with its decadent luxury and A-list guests. When these two worlds collide, threatening the existence of the stag, James embarks on a quest to find a friend who's gone missingand to save a life.

This ebook features an extended biography of Zilpha Keatley Snyder.