In this funny and profound novel, middle-school misfits isolated by their exceptional talents find themselves on a character-building trek, el Viaje a la Confianza ("Journey to Confidence"), through the desert wilderness of West Texas. Audrey is burdened with the unerring ability to tell when people are lying, while Aaron has a photographic (and phonographic!) memory. When the camp bully, Daphne, goes missing, they work together as a team to find her d save her life. Unfortunately, Daphne's backstory is not credible, and the solution to the mystery also strains believability. But what makes the story special is the authors' nuanced understanding of how our special gifts fit into our lives. Each kid's talent is like a powerful medicine that can be used to help or to harm, depending on the dosage and the symptoms: Audrey must learn to temper her love of the truth with mercy, while Aaron must assemble his bits of data into a bigger picture. Satisfyingly, they do learn to use their gifts in context , as the title has it, to "connect the stars."

In alternating narration, we meet thirteen-year-olds Audrey, who can tell when someone's lying, and Aaron, who remembers everything he's ever seen or heard in perfect detail. Because these "superpowers" impede their social lives, they're sent to wilderness camp to gain balance. With a quick pace and acerbic protagonists to draw readers in, what follows is a story of survival and unlikely friendship.