Maid for It
by Jamie Sumner (Author)
From the acclaimed author of Roll with It comes a relatable and deeply moving middle grade novel about a girl who, in a desperate bid to keep her family afloat, takes over her mom's cleaning jobs after an injury prevents her from working.
Now that Franny and her newly sober mom have moved to a cozy apartment above a laundromat, Franny's looking forward to a life where her biggest excitement is getting top grades in math class. But when Franny's mom gets injured in a car accident, their fragile life begins to crumble. There's no way her mom can keep her job cleaning houses, which means she can't pay the bills. Franny can't forget what happened the last time her mom was hurt: the pills that were supposed to help became an addiction, until rehab brought them to Mimi's laundromat and the support group she hosts.
Franny will not let addiction win again, even if she has to blackmail a school rival to help her clean houses. She'll make the money and keep her mom sober--there's no other choice. But what happens if this is one problem she can't solve on her own?
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Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
With sure-handed plotting and distinctive characters, this immediate-feeling novel from Sumner (The Summer of June) captures the lingering impact of substance reliance on one family. Three years after her mother's rehab stay following a pain pill relapse, sixth-grader Franny Bishop relies on meticulously planned logistics to manage her own anxieties as well as her mom's eating schedule. But handling what she perceives as her household responsibilities becomes more challenging when a car accident fractures her mother's leg, resulting in necessary hospital pain management along with increased medical bills and decreased gigwork for her mother. After hiding the prescribed oxycodone tablets her mom tried to refuse ("If it comes to it, I'll be the one to decide when and how much she gets") and engaging in a bit of subterfuge, Franny secretly takes over her mom's house-cleaning jobs to keep the family afloat. As Franny navigates the past traumas that led to her parentification, the aphorism-studded first-person narrative spotlights her learning to lean on others--including classmates; her mother's sponsor, Mimi; and, eventually, her mom--in a novel about moving forward with awareness and hope. Protagonists largely cue as white. Ages 10-up. Agent: Keely Boeving, WordServe Literary. (Sept.)
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JUV039070 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Homelessness & Poverty
Mothers and daughters
Drug addiction
House cleaning
