Jenny Goebel: Alpaca My Bags

To some kids, Amelia's life sounds like the ultimate fantasy. She and her brothers are homeschooled by their adventurous parents, and the family travels around the country in a RV, scaling mountains, rappelling down canyons, and skiing down double black diamond slopes. There's just one problem - Amelia hates every minute of it. She's terrified of heights and would give anything to read instead careen down a mountain. She's also desperate for the chance to attend a regular school and make real friends. So when her parents decide to spend a year in Colorado, Amelia's delighted by the chance to settle down. However, starting at a conventional school is much harder than Amelia imagined, and her anxiety makes meeting new friends extra challenging. Everything about her feels wrong, from her clothes to her hobbies to her complete lack of pop culture knowledge. So when Amelia's given the chance to volunteer at an alpaca farm, she's delighted by the chance to do something she's good at - take care of animals. And soon, the alpacas and their owners start to feel like real friends. But when a cruel classmate's prank puts the alpacas in mortal peril, Amelia will have to summon strength she never knew she possessed to save the only place that's ever felt like home.