Caterpillar Summer

Eleven-year-old Cat is the glue holding her biracial family together, especially when it comes to caring for her younger brother Chicken, who has special needs and is sensitive to noise and touch. After their father's death, their overworked mother sends the siblings to spend the summer with maternal grandparents they've never met on Gingerbread Island, North Carolina, where Cat finally gets to be a kid again amid fishing, fireflies, and new friendships. As old family secrets come to light, the story explores grief, sibling caregiving, neurodiversity, and the healing power of extended family bonds. The book thoughtfully portrays a biracial family (a Black father and white mother) and features a character with unspecified special needs who fixates on sharks and struggles with sensory overload.