Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me

It’s the summer of 1969 on Ramble Street in Massapequa Park, New York. The world is anxiously waiting to watch the first man ever set foot on the moon and stories about tragedies from the Vietnam War fill the nightly news.

For Tamara Simpson the summer means listening for the Mr. Softee ice cream truck to drive down their street and an endless game of kickball with the other neighborhood kids. Only this summer, Tamara’s best friend Kebsie has suddenly left the foster home she lived in without so much as a goodbye, and Douglas “Muscle Man” McGinty has moved in. Now, according to Tamara, Muscle Man is a “squirrelly runt, a lying snake, and a pitiful excuse for a ten year old.” Muscle Man likes to tell tall tales, like his uncle is Neil Armstrong, who is about to be the first man on the moon, or that he’s training to take 7 gold Olympic medals in swimming. But the tallest tale of all is when he says he can beat all of Ramble Street at kickball single-handedly. Game on! Tamara sees this as the opportunity to expose Muscle Man for the liar he truly is. But, when the truth about Muscle Man finally comes out, Tamara and her friends realize real life situations can be the cause of some pretty outlandish tales, and friendships can be found in the most unlikely places.