Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I'll read anything by Jamie Sumner. This one was just as good as expected. Jamie doesn't shy away from issues that kids are actually facing. Can't wait for the next one.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing/Atheneum Books for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Unpopular opinion time, I did not enjoy this book in the slightest. I can see that is is important, there are many children who experience a single parent household, food, housing and money insecurity, parents addicted/attempting to stay sober, bullying, etc. This would be important for children going through something similar and for those who aren't, to teach them compassion.

However, I could't take the realism. I read for escape from reality, not to wallow in it. And this, was definitely, reality to the max.

It was written well, in clear language, so I could feel what the poor protagonist was going through and it wasn't pretty.

2.5 stars, rounded down because I just didn't enjoy or finish it because it was too stressful for me. I would recommend this for middle grade readers, with the caveat that the adults who know the middle reader in question should vet before deciding it is appropriate for their reading level or not.

2, I wasn't expecting this to affect me so much, stars.

Franny's mom has been clean for a while now and they have been living a calm life in the tiny apartment above Mimi's laundromat. Everything was going fine until Franny's mom was T-boned by someone who ran a stop sign. Left with a mom with a broken leg, serious recovery time, and no income, Franny decides to continue cleaning for her mom's maid service so they can keep surviving.

I love Jamie Sumner so much! She is a powerful force in middle grade realistic fiction. She has a unique, unwavering voice in telling stories of hardships many kids in our country face every day. As an educator, I truly appreciate her insights into what I know are some of my students' daily lives. I hope that putting these books in my library, my students have an opportunity to see themselves and have hope that they too can successfully work through these types of situations.

For teachers and libraries that serve middle grades - I highly recommend not just this title, but all of Sumner's titles.

I love Jamie Sumner's books and this one doesn't disappoint! This is the story of Franny and her mom, and Mimi who owns the laundromat below their apartment. Franny's mom had struggled with addiction and Franny has a lot of anxiety about her mom going back to her old ways. When her mom gets into a car accident, Fran is worried about how they will pay their bills. Fran decides she is the one to fix all their problems and she is going to continue to clean houses for her mom's clients. Franny covers up well that it is only her who is cleaning the houses and not her mom.

I liked how this story wasn't dragging on and on to show Franny's struggles to keep up appearances while trying to keep up with school, homework, and the cleaning jobs, and then back home again to help her mom as she recovers from the car accident.

Franny is a character I think many readers can relate to in many different ways. Franny's anxiety, for one, I think is more commonplace, unfortunately, but it is discussed more than it had in the past. Franny is not as well off as her classmates are, but she also doesn't dwell on it either. She doesn't dream about having this or that, she's just trying to stay afloat with her mom and Mimi. Hoping her mom stays sober.

A must-have for all libraries!

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