"Shimko's tough young heroine demonstrates how to survive loss, puberty and first love. A powerful and startlingly witty story." --Emma Donoghue, author of SLAMMERKIN

Lizzy McMann is a feisty twelve-year-old who lives with her mother and Manny, her father (she thinks), in a fleabag Phoenix hotel.

One night, Manny's sudden announcement that he wants a divorce causes mother and daughter to move to upstate New York to live with Lizzy's grandmother and grandfather -- a mixed blessing.

At school, Lizzy befriends, then falls in love with Eva Singer, who is dyslexic, looks like Natalie Wood and lives right down the street.

Like all girls her age, Lizzy has to deal with her first period, her first bra and her first boyfriend. But what scares her most is her love for Eva.

She is also concerned with getting a new husband for Mama -- especially after reading Mama's letters in the attic. Then Eva gets a boyfriend and Mama's life enters what seems to be a new crisis. How Lizzy comes to grips with life's strange twists and turns makes for fascinating reading.

Also by Bonnie Shimko:

Kat’s Promise