In this modern-day suburban town, one percent of all fatalities come about in the most peculiar way. Deaths--eight-foot-tall, silver-gray creatures--send a letter ("Dear So-and-So, your days are numbered") to whomever is chosen for a departure, telling them to wrap up their lives and do the things they always wanted to do before they have to "depart." When sixteen-year-old Gabriela receives her notice, she is, of course devastated. Will she kiss her crush Sylvester before it's too late? Friendship, first love, and fantasy artfully mesh in this magically realistic world that ultimately celebrates life.

It's the summer of 1963, and something strange is afoot in the quiet town of Farro, Iowa. The school district's most notorious bully has gone missing without a trace, and furthermore, seventh grader Henry Nilsson and his friends have just found an odd book stashed in the woods by Longbelly Gulch---a moldy instruction guide written to teach the art of "subtle travel," a kind of out-of-body experience. The foursome will soon discover that out-of-body life isn't so subtle after all---there are some very real, and very dangerous, things happening out there in the woods. The science fiction inventiveness of Madeleine L'Engle meets the social commentary of Gary Schmidt in this thrilling tale of missing persons, first crushes, embarrassing pajamas, and thought-provoking dilemmas.