“Offbeat, comic, thought-provoking: a top-notch author at full strength.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A girl spending the summer with her nonconformist aunt gets caught in the middle of a local culture war in this middle grade coming-of-age novel about personal expression, identity, and belonging from E.L. Konigsburg, the Newbery Medal–winning author of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.When Chloë’s stepdad sends her to Florida to spend the summer with his sister, his best advice is to give the unexpected a chance. And Aunt Bernadette is nothing if not unexpected, from her job driving a food truck to her big, slobbery dog to her unorthodox way of teaching Chloë to swim. But even life with her unconventional aunt couldn’t have prepared Chloë for the true surprise of the summer: a culture war that brings out the worst in the community. It starts when Aunt Bernadette’s boss introduces a new, skimpy uniform—T-back swimsuits. The switch drums up business but also draws the ire of a local right-wing religious group, who form Citizens Opposing All T-backs (COAT) in protest. Meanwhile, Aunt Bernadette refuses to wear a T-back, negatively affecting her position at work and drawing unwanted attention from COAT. Chloë helps her aunt as much as she can, but when an innocent prank gets out of hand, Chloë worries she’s only made things worse…
