Caleb and Kit

Vrabel, Beth. Caleb and Kit. 2017. 256p. ISBN 9780762462230. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Caleb has difficulty breathing. Unlike most other twelve-year-olds, Caleb suffers from cystic fibrosis, a disease that affects his lungs by filling them with mucus. This means that every day Caleb has to take medication to loosen the mucus so that he can breathe, as well as wearing a vest designed for the same purpose. Cystic fibrosis also leads to a shortened lifespan. And unlike his older brother Patrick, who is always perfect, Caleb feels very limited and feels that he is a letdown for his family. In fact, he’s pretty sure he’s the cause of his parents’ divorce and his father’s new marriage to a woman barely older than Patrick, a junior in high school.

With summer upon them and Patrick interning with doctors working on cystic fibrosis, Caleb has to go to his town’s day camp, though he would rather stay home. On the day before camp starts, Caleb takes a walk in the woods behind his house and comes upon a girl sitting on a large rock in the middle of a small creek. Her name is Kit, and she lives across the woods in the opposite direction. Unlike Caleb, Kit has no restrictions. Though the same age as him, she doesn’t have to go to camp, is home schooled, and can wander the woods as much as she wants.

Camp is not very interesting to him, as he is stuck with Shelly, a girl from school and the only other 12-year-old. His friends all play football and practice every day in the park next to camp, so Caleb also get to see his friends have fun. But he loves Kit for her fierceness and independence, and he wants to spend as much time with her.

But as the summer progresses, Caleb begins to realize that though Kit is a great friend, she’s also a dangerous friend that makes her skip camp and involves him in a web of lies and deceptions that affect his relationships with Patrick and his parents. As Kit’s magic slowly evolves into questionable actions, Caleb will have to decide whether he can survive his friendship with Kit.