The time by the lake is everything perfect about a childhood

summer…and maybe it also holds the answers Max needs. Give this tender middle

grade novel to readers who love the mystery, friendships, and touches of magic

in novels by Rebecca Stead and Laurel Snyder!

To get Max and Rosie’s minds off their mother’s mysterious

disappearance, their grandmother, Mozelle, suggests that they visit the old log

cabin where their mom spent her summers as a child. This is a place where, when

it gets dark, you go to bed. But according to Mozelle, their mother had her

happiest dreams during her nights at the lake.

That first night, Max and Rosie travel in their dreams to an

almost impossibly beautiful place where they meet a wonderful new group of

friends. But was it really just a dream? Or is there something extraordinary

and magical about this compound by the lake?

As Max slowly grasps what is really going on, he wonders if he

might have found the key to the mystery of his mother’s disappearance—and how to

bring her safely home.