Mad Parker has just graduated from eighth grade， where she had nearly perfected the art of becoming invisible， unnoticed， gone-to teachers， to classmates， to her mother， almost to herself.? Now she is spending the summer ( a summer of Three Rs: riding， reading， rotting) with her grandmother， the Powerful Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. The Powerful Chair thinks that dancing-Scottish country dancing， to be exact-will help Mad get over her shyness. Torture.? That s what Mad thinks.? Is she really any point in going to the Chair s weekly dance class?In the meantime Mad has other things to worry about.? Her horse has developed cow-phobia， e-mail indicates she may be losing her best friend， and being in her parents hometown brings back thoughts of her father-L.G.， he s called， for Long Gone， or G.R.， for Good Riddance.But when the Chair gets involved in a highly publicized environmental controversy， politics and， yes， Scottish dance show Mad the way courage grows.? And the surprising places new-grown courage can take you.