This satisfying story explores the powerful impact of our actions on the world around us. When his father takes a new job in Massachusetts, Ben Moroney must leave behind his best friend Tony, a western banded gecko named Lenny, and worst of all, the desert home he has loved and explored. Ben's adjustment to his new environment is not going well until he unexpectedly finds a kindred spirit in his eccentric fifth-grade science teacher, Mrs. Tibbets. Together they explore the varied habitats on her rural property, and she introduces him to the elusive and endangered Eastern spadefoot toads that make their home there. When Ben discovers that Mrs. Tibbets's relatives plan to sell the land to developers, he knows he must try to stop them. As Ben's obsession with saving the spadefoot toads'habitat grows, his schoolwork suffers and his relationships with his family and new friends are strained. One foolish, impulsive act threatens to destroy his friendship with Mrs. Tibbets-and maybe even her career. But just when it seems things can't get any worse, Ben finds a way to meet his responsibilities to the people around him and learns what it means to feel "at home."

Bill Harley is a two-time Grammy Award–winning storyteller, musician, and author who has been writing and performing for kids and families for more than forty years. He has appeared nationally in theaters, schools, libraries, festivals and conferences, as a workshop leader and keynote and inspirational speaker. His picture books and middle-grade novels have won wide acclaim, from Bank Street School of Education Best Books, Children's Choice Awards, Green Earth Book Awards, and pick of the list from ABA.
Harley was called "the Mark Twain of contemporary children's music" by Entertainment Weekly. He lives in Massachusetts.