A boy, a forest, and the summer that changed everything.

It's the summer of 1957, and ten-year-old Herbie Hereford is afraid of the woods across the street from his house in Upton Grove, Ohio.

When three neighborhood kids—bold Tommy, inquisitive Skeeter, and unpredictable Roger—invite him to explore them, he says yes. What follows is a summer unlike any other. Together, the four friends wade into ponds, track deer, build a boat, and learn to read the rhythms of a wild place that becomes as familiar as home. The woods sit on the edge of what remains of the great eastern forest of the American Midwest—one of the last remnants of a landscape that shaped a continent.

For Herbie, shy and uncertain, the woods offer something he can't find anywhere else: the chance to discover what he's made of. But at home, his father is a man of silences and sudden anger, and that weight presses on everything—even the brightest summer days.

In the Heart of the Woods is a coming-of-age story for middle-grade readers and for adults who remember what it meant to have a place that was entirely yours. For fans of Because of Winn-Dixie, Hoot, and Dandelion Wine.