sentences:  The book marks the first appearance of the character Zachary Gray, who dates first Vicky and then (in later books) Polly O'Keefe.Although Vicky will later appear in three novels that have fantasy and/or science fiction themes, there are no such elements in "The Moon By Night".In "The Moon by Night" (), Vicky and her family are on a cross-country camping trip, meant to be a transition between their life in rural Thornhill, Connecticut and a very different one in New York City, where Vicky's father, Dr. Wallace Austin, will be doing research.