A "heartfelt, enigmatic, and ethereal" ( School Library Journal ) debut that two-time Newbery Honor winner Gary Schmidt calls "a journey that every reader needs to go on." This is the story of Raul, a boy of few words, fewer friends, and almost no family. He is a loner--but he isn't lonely. All week long he looks after the younger boys at One of Our Kind Boarding School while dodging the barbs of terrible Tuffman, the mean gym teacher. Like every other kid in the world, he longs for Fridays, but not for the usual reasons. The woods have secrets.and so does Raul. As soon as the other students go home for the weekend, Raul makes his way to a lighthouse deep in the heart of the woods.

There he waits for sunset--and the mysterious, marvelous shapeshifting phenomenon that allows him to go home, too.