Excerpt from Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I grab the napkin tight and close my eyes. "If you make it stop I'll ask for help all the time," I say and then I open them again.

"I'll go have a look," my Forever Dad says. He stands up. When he walks past me I recoil. Then I see that he isn't Gloria. He looks at me funny and walks into the hallway. I hear him open the door to my room. The crying gets louder again.

"I don't know if this idea is working," my Forever Mom says. "We wanted you to see what it was like to have a real baby in the house, but this is not turning out like we planned."

In my bedroom the crying gets as loud as it can get. My Forever Dad comes back out again. One of his hands is in his hair.

"She put it in her suitcase," he says.

"What?"

"I had to follow the sound. I didn't see it anywhere at first. She crammed it in there with a bunch of blankets and stuffed animals, zipped it shut and then forced it back under her bed," he says.

"Ginny, why would you do a thing like that?" my Forever Mom says.

"It wouldn't stop crying," I say.

"Yes, but—" My Forever Dad interrupts her. "Look, it's going to drive us all nuts if we don't put an end to this. I tried to make it stop, but I couldn't do it, either. I think it's at the point of no return. Let's just call Mrs. Winkleman."

Mrs. Winkleman is the health teacher.

"She said she gave the emergency phone number to Ginny this morning," my Forever Mom says. "It's on a piece of paper. Check in her backpack."

He walks into the hall and opens the door to my bedroom again. I cover my ears. He comes out holding my backpack. My Forever Mom finds the paper and takes out her phone. "Mrs. Winkleman?" I hear her say. "Yes, this is Ginny's mom. I'm sorry to call so late, but I'm afraid we're having a problem with the baby."

"Don't worry, Forever Girl," my Forever Dad says to me. "This will all be over in a few minutes, and then you can get ready for bed. I'm sorry this is so intense and nerve-racking. We really thought—"

My Forever Mom puts the phone down. "She says there's a hole in the back of its neck. You have to put a paper clip into the hole to touch a button and shut it off."

He goes into the office and then he comes out again and walks down the hall into my bedroom. I start counting. When I get to twelve the crying stops. And now I can breathe again.

Excerpted from Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig. Copyright © 2017 by Benjamin Ludwig. Excerpted by permission of Park Row Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.