Close encounters of a third-world kind

Synopsis

"Think of it as an adventure," twelve-year-old Annie Ferris's father tells her when he announces that the family will be spending the next two months in Nepal on a medical mission. But what sort of adventure is it if you have to leave behind your friends, sleep in a tent with your bratty little sister, and actually be expected to eat something called yak cheese? Not an adventure Annie wants any part of.Then Annie meets Nirmala, a local girl, and she begins to get to know the real Nepal. Before long, Annie, her little sister, Chelsea, and Nirmala embark on a journey, and the girls find themselves lost in a real-life obstacle course--with a snarling dog, a creaking rope bridge, and a darkening night sky. Will Annie be ready to handle the adventure she finds after all?In this warm and comic tour of self-discovery, Jennifer J. Stewart gets to the heart of what it truly means to be a family.