Description

The road to independence has never been easy.

What Penelope Yeager wants:

1. Get out of high school.
2. Have sex.
3. Fall in love.
4. Get her driver’s license.
5. Forget what happened ten years ago.
6. See her mother happy.

She’s figured out how to get out of school a year early. If she can figure out the rest, maybe she’ll actually be happy. Unfortunately, the rest isn’t nearly as easy.

“Jahn-Clough’s prose is infused with startling flashes of beauty”—Horn Book

"Fast-paced, well-written story."—School Library Journal

About the author(s)

Lisa Jahn-Clough has written and illustrated many picture books for young children, including Alicia Has a Bad Day, My Friend and I, Missing Molly, and Simon and Molly Plus Hester. She is the author of the Green Light reader series Petal and Poppy and has published several young adult novels and a recent chapter book. She is associate professor of creative writing at Rowan University and also works as a mentor in the Hamline University Low-Residency MFA program in writing for children and young adults. You can find out more at lisajahnclough.com.

Reviews

Lively prose, humorous situations, and certain quirks in the plot that surprise.
KLIATT

By the book's end, Lopi has truly come of age by reconciling her past, making peace with her present, and finding confidence in her future.
Booklist, ALA

At once brutally cynical and achingly naive. . . . Jahn-Clough's prose is artfully stilted--reflecting Lopi's uncomfortable approach to life--but infused with startling flashes of beauty, while her doodle-y heart-themed spot art opens each chapter with thought-provoking visual symbolism.
Horn Book —

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