For some reason that is never really spelled out in the story, Nina has trouble making friends. She’s twelve years old, perhaps a little bit over-enthusiastic about her special interest, birds, and otherwise seemingly normal and likable. But she hasn’t yet found her “tribe”.

Nevertheless, as an amateur birdwatcher and collector of bird facts, Nina is feeling almost at home at her aunt’s summer camp in Bee Holler, TX. Her new camp friends, who call themselves The Oddballs, make Nina part of the group, and when the four girls discover two huge white birds nesting near the old infirmary at camp, they also discover a group mission: protect the birds!

There are mysteries to be solved in this nature fiction story. Are these birds rare, endangered whooping cranes? If so, why are they in Texas, not their natural habitat? Who is the female bird of the pair, and where did she come from? Is there an egg in the nest? Will it hatch? When? How can the girls watch over the birds without alerting the public to their whereabouts?

The story also involves some rule-breaking on the part of The Oddballs, but there are consequences for their disobedience.Everything is resolved satisfactorily by the end of the book. And there are a few mentions of evolutionary theory (“Did y’all know that birds evolved from dinosaurs?”), but most of the science-y information in the book is accurate as far as I could tell. Give this one to nature lovers, bird lovers in particular, and to twelve year olds who are thinking about where they belong in the world and how to fit in without losing themselves. It’s not too preachy, but the story does deal with those issues in an understated and helpful way.