Jon Jeffers is the loneliest nine-year-old on earth. It's 1935, and he's stuck on a tiny rocky island off the coast of San Francisco with his mother and his lighthouse-keeper father. Jon longs for something more. If only he had a way to escape this forsaken pile of rocks, he could have some real adventures.

Then one morning the irritable ghost of an ancient magician appears on the beach and offers—amazingly—to teach Jon to fly. Jon agrees, and at first flying seems to be the answer to his wildest dreams. But then he flies into some serious trouble. . . .

From the acclaimed author of The Cay, here is a sweet, funny, and outrageous tale of a boy who gets his dearest wish—and then wishes he hadn't.