Farah's little brother is in the hospital with a heart problem that needs surgery, so her parents send sixth-grader Farah off to stay with her grandmother in a retirement condo in Florida; Sitti Fayrouz does not speak much English, has a lot of rules, and does not understand Farah's interest in geology, so Farah is not happy with the move--but despite being the only child in the community, Farah finds that the people are nice, and despite getting...

While visiting his grandparents' retirement community in Florida, ten-year-old Adam "Melonhead" Melon, accompanied by his best friend Sam, invents the Alligator Distractor.