The Bigtree family can no longer continue to operate their aging Florida theme-park, Swamplandia!, when their mother, alligator-wrestling star Hilola Bigtree, dies. Twelve-year-old Ava dreams of saving the park with an alligator show of her own. Instead, she finds herself abandoned as each remaining member of the family drifts, one-by-one, away from the park. Ava’s Ouija board-obsessed sister Osceola is the last to leave, off to elope with a boyfriend she claims is a ghost. Ava sets out into the swampy Everglades to rescue Osceola in a poignant coming-of-age journey. Full of compelling characters and rich descriptions of the Everglades, Swamplandia! is one of those books that stays in the mind long after the final page.