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.