The Not-So-Great Depression

Fourteen-year-old Jacki is nothing if not an enthusiast. “It makes a girl’s chest hurt, thinking about how many ways there are to be alive,” she says. Jacki lives a fairly charmed life in Los Angeles with her older sister, Brooke (whom she idolizes), younger brother, Mitch, and divorced workaholic mother; her biggest concerns are her crush on the elusive Adam B. and contemplating different career paths: beekeeper, veterinarian, etc. But when her mother is laid off, it doesn’t take long for Jacki to feel the effects of the economic downturn. They let their housekeeper, gardener, and nanny go; Jacki and her brother are faced with transferring to public school in the fall; Brooke’s college fund evaporates; and their mother is considering a job offer in Wyoming. Koss’s (Side Effects) story is timely and lively, due to Jacki’s narration, which is exuberant even under duress (“My parents hold their seething, snarling, blamefest in the kitchen, way, way, too close to my couch, if you ask me”). It also provides some realistic ways to make the best of tough times. Ages 12–up. (May)