Eleven-year-old Frankie Greene is a girl with a secret. She lives with her widowed dad and maternal grandmother in a bed and breakfast that distinguishes itself by being named for board games and serving homemade, fresh from the oven cookies at check-in. She has a lot of responsibility helping her dad run the B & B. She'd also like a mother so she has posted a profile for her dad on a dating site and is screening "possibles." Frankie is not the only family member with secrets. Gram has a locked shed in the backyard and maybe a secret boyfriend at the senior center. Dad is having whispered arguments with a sleazy developer who wants the B & B. Her best friend, Elliot is obsessed with finding ghosts and her former best friend, Jessica is just being vile.
Elly Swartz's sophomore effort spins a lot of plates but works thanks to the voice of her spunky heroine, Frankie. The first-person narrative is amusing and fast-paced. Frankie's habit of storing worries behind her big toe caused me to worry that she'd develop gout. Her letters to her dead mother are endearing and Elliot is just a hoot! Other characters are well-developed such as Mabel, the cheating card player at Gram's senior center. Fans of Finding Perfect will not be disappointed. This gentle story is fun; part mystery with a dash of ghost story coupled with relatable school and friend drama. Give it to any reader really; but I think fans of Sheila Turnage's Mo and Dale books (Three Times Lucky, The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing and The Odds of Getting Even) would especially appreciate the boy/girl best friendship and banter.
273 pages 9781338143584 Ages 9-13
Recommended by: Brenda Kahn, Library Media Specialist, New Jersey USA
See more of her recommendations: https://proseandkahn.blogspot.com
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Sometimes you need to keep a few secrets.
Frankie knows she'll be in big trouble if Dad discovers she secretly posted a dating profile for him online. But she's determined to find him a wife, even if she ends up grounded for life. Frankie wants what she had before Mom died. A family of three. Two is a pair of socks or the wheels on a bicycle or a busy weekend at the B&B where Frankie and Dad live. Three is a family. And Frankie's is missing a piece.
But Operation Mom is harder to pull off than Frankie expects. None of the Possibles are very momish, the B&B's guests keep canceling, Frankie's getting the silent treatment from her once best friend, and there's a maybe-ghost hanging around. Worst of all, Gram and Dad are definitely hiding secrets of their own.
If a smart cookie like Frankie wants to save the B&B and find her missing piece, she's going to have to figure out what secrets are worth keeping and when it's time to let go.--from the publisher
