Olive Gills is a perfectly happy not-so-normal 10 almost 11 year old girl. She goes to a great private school just a few blocks away from her perfectly normal house. Her 11th birthday nearing she starts to wonder about what she'll do for her middle school year. Her school doesn't have a middle school and her family doesn't approve of a lot of the middle schools near Maple Street. It's finally her 11th birthday and just as she is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake a snowy owl swoops into her kitchen.