Float is a 2018 middle-grade adventure novel by American author Laura Martin. Martin has published seven books for young readers, of which Float is the third. Float tells the story of Emerson, a 12-year-old boy who has the uncontrollable ability to float if he is not weighted down. Emerson attends a summer camp for children with similar abilities where he confronts his fears and learns to step outside his comfort zone. A sequel to Float, entitled Vanishing Act, was published in 2022 and focuses on Emerson’s best friend, Hank, and she further explores time travel in Glitch.

This guide references the 2018 HarperCollins e-book edition of the novel.

Content Warning: This guide contains extensive discussions of ableism.

Plot Summary

Float begins with Emerson’s arrival at Camp Outlier, a summer sleepaway camp for children with unusual abilities known as RISK factors. Emerson’s RISK factor is floating: if he is not wearing his weighted vest and iron shoes, he will immediately float away. Emerson does not want to attend Camp Outlier, but his mother tells him he has no choice: RISK children must be supervised during the summer so that they do not pose a risk to those around them. Emerson meets the other members of his cabin: Eli, the counselor, shape-shifts different parts of his body constantly; Hank turns invisible involuntarily; Anthony spontaneously combusts; Zeke has x-ray vision that blocks out his regular vision, and he has a skunk as a service animal; Gary sticks to things; and Murphy time travels. Emerson and Hank become fast friends.

The boys are in the Red Maple cabin. Intimidating men from the Time Travel Bureau of Investigation (TTBI) have to check on Murphy often, and he is forbidden from saying anything about his visits to the future. On their first night, the campers play capture the flag. Emerson struggles to run with his heavy shoes, so Hank and Eli tie their team’s flag to the shoes and throw them into the lake. Emerson is frightened to have only his vest keeping him safe. At dinner that night, the boys meet the girls from the Monarch cabin, and Emerson takes a liking to Molly, who can turn into a spaniel. A version of Murphy from the future briefly appears to talk to his past self; only Emerson notices.

In the middle of their first night, the boys are woken and driven into the woods. Older kids make them dress up in 1980s prom dresses. Emerson nearly floats away, as he does not have his weighted vest. At the last second, a future version of Murphy appears and sticks Emerson’s hand to Gary’s, keeping him grounded. To get back to camp, the boys have to retrieve a compass that hangs high in a tree. Although he feels terrified, Emerson agrees to float up and grab it with a rope tied around him. The boys make it back to camp, surprised by how much they enjoyed their initiation. The boys play capture the flag again and successfully retrieve another team’s flag. Murphy time travels again and appears upset when he returns. He admits to Emerson that he will not survive the summer; he has seen his own funeral. Before the end of camp, he will time travel and will not come back. Hank, who is invisible, overhears the conversation.

Hank and Emerson brainstorm ways to save Murphy’s life, even though he insists that he has come to terms with death and that nothing can be done. They try supergluing Murphy to a rock and several other tricks, but none of them prevent him from time traveling. The boys’ camp adventures continue—they go canoeing, flirt with the Monarch girls, and sneak out at night to have a bonfire by the lake. The bonfire goes wrong when they accidentally spill gasoline across the lake and set it on fire. Emerson and his friends have to scrub their bathroom with toothbrushes as a punishment. As they scrub, Emerson has an idea: perhaps Murphy would be unable to time travel if he were stuck to Gary. A future version of Murphy briefly appears, confirming that Murphy will live until at least the last week of camp. Zeke notices that his skunk sneezes just before Murphy time travels, giving them a brief window in which to stick Murphy and Gary together.

The boys make bucket lists to help Murphy live his last summer to the fullest. Emerson gets more willing to take risks and realizes that he has grown as a person since arriving at camp. He will be sad to go back to his normal, sheltered life. Near the end of the summer, the Red Maple cabin goes on a camping trip in the woods. Alone near the latrine, Emerson meets a future version of Murphy who tells him, cryptically, to “make sure that the TTBI doesn’t find out that you talk to those guys” (185). Shaken, Emerson returns to the campsite and realizes that the Murphy in the woods looked older than the one he knows. Later, Gary gets his hand stuck to a tree and has to have it unstuck with caustic acid, which is very painful. The next day, the boys cross another item off Murphy’s bucket list: lassoing a pig. Their misadventure gets them covered in pig poop, but they return to camp safely.

Back at camp, the kids watch a fireworks display, and Emerson holds Molly’s hand. On their final day of camp, the kids play capture the flag again, and Red Maple wins after Emerson gets the courage to float up to the top of a redwood tree and retrieve the remaining flags. As they celebrate, the skunk sneezes. Emerson sticks Gary to Murphy (and gets stuck himself) just in time for all three of them to time travel to the future. Emerson, Murphy, and Gary find themselves in the woods, where four men mistake Murphy for a deer and nearly shoot him. They reveal that new legislation allows them to round up RISK kids for a bounty. The boys travel back to Camp Outlier before the men can harm them, and Emerson tells Murphy about his meeting with Murphy’s older self. In accordance with future Murphy’s instructions, the boys tell the TTBI agents that they saw nothing in the woods. Murphy realizes that if it were not for Gary pulling him out of the way, he would have been shot and killed.

On their final night, the Red Maple boys have a midnight meeting to debrief about what happened. Gary feels pessimistic: their RISK factors make them dangerous, and people might one day choose to hurt them, like the men in the future. Murphy thinks that they might have averted that future, though only time will tell. All of the boys vow to return to Camp Outlier the following summer. They play a prank on the Monarch girls by putting all their clothes in trees. Before they leave, Hank kisses a girl from the Monarch cabin, Kirsty, whose skin is always burning hot to the touch. When they say goodbye, Hank gives each of his friends a letter with instructions to cross at least 15 things off their bucket lists before next summer. Emerson returns home with greater self-confidence and realizes that not truly living is a more frightening prospect than dying.