Now in paperback, a moving novel of loss and resilience, told in a voice that is "sometimes humorous, at times heartbreaking, and always authentic" (School Library Journal).

Twelve-year-old May lives with her grandmother, who is depressed about the absence of May's mother, and her father, who works long hours and is almost never around. Due to her circumstance and her resentment over having to live in a low-income neighborhood, May often finds herself picking fights and getting into trouble.

But when May is caught defacing her least favorite teacher's classroom, she has a choice: expulsion or one-on-one summer school with the teacher she most detests. Begrudgingly, May chooses summer school and ultimately learns that her teacher has a secret past-and might just hold the key to answers no one else will give May about her mother.

 

This book has been graded for interest at 9-13 years.

There are 256 pages in this book. This book was published 2011 by Simon & Schuster .

Cecilia Galante received a B. A. in English from King's College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, Vermont. She lives in Kingston, PA with her husband and three children, and is a faculty member of the Graduate Creative Writing Department at Wilkes University.