Author(s): Elly Swartz
Format: Hardback
No. of Pages: 304
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
Language: English
Date Published: 2016-11-08
Dimensions: 149 x 215 x 25mm
Publication City/Country: New York, United States
Edition:
Illustrations:

To twelve-year-old Molly Nathans, perfect is:

--The number four
--The tip of a newly sharpened No. 2 pencil
--A crisp white pad of paper
--Her neatly aligned glass animal figurines

What's not perfect is Molly's mother leaving the family to take a faraway job with the promise to return in one year. Molly knows that promises are sometimes broken, so she hatches a plan to bring her mother home: Win the Lakeville Middle School Poetry Slam Contest. The winner is honored at a fancy banquet with white tablecloths. Molly is sure her mother would never miss that. Right...?

But as time passes, writing and reciting slam poetry become harder. Actually, everything becomes harder as new habits appear, and counting, cleaning, and organizing are not enough to keep Molly's world from spinning out of control. In this fresh-voiced debut novel, one girl learns there is no such thing as perfect.