When the invitation to the Preffyn family reunion arrives interrupting a perfectly decent summer vacation, 15-year-old Shelley Wollcott is anything but enthusiastic. Its not that Shelley has anything against her relatives, she just cant stand it when they give her that what a pity look. Its not her fault that her real mother walked out on the family or that her father has remarried yet again. With Dad away on business and her older sister visiting their mother in Paris, Shelley must face the perfect Preffyns reunion with only her prankster younger brother and her insecure new stepmother at her side. Its an opportunity to uncover the familys secrets, but Shelley isnt sure whether, when she discovers the truth, shell laugh or cry.In this funny and poignant novel by Caroline B. Cooney, Shelley learns to appreciate all the members of her unusual familyincluding herself!in ways she never anticipated. And she discovers things are often not as perfect as they seem.From the Hardcover edition.