Let Me Fix That for You

by Janice Erlbaum

Overview

A Bank Street Best Children's Book of 2020

Janice Erlbaum's Let Me Fix That for You is a quirky, touching, and laugh-out-loud middle-grade novel about a girl capable of fixing everything but her own life.

Twelve-year-old Gladys Burke may not have many friends, but at least she has her empire. From her table at the back of the cafeteria, Glad arranges favors for her classmates in exchange for their friendship. She solves every problem, handles every situation, and saves every butt.

But the jobs keep getting harder, and when Glad decides the problem that most needs fixing is her parents' relationship, she finds herself in way over her head. She'll have to call in all her favors and use all her skills to help the person who most needs it—herself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374308124
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	07/23/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	293
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Janice Erlbaum is the author of the memoirs Girlbomb and Have You Found Her;the novel for adults I, Liar; and the middle-grade novel Lucky Little Things. She lives in New York City with her husband.

Editorial Reviews

Smart, insightful, poignant—leavening brutal, middle school realities with wry humor.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Moving at a good pace, the story’s appealing first person narrative becomes more involving as Glad’s personal problems mount. . .The story’s climax brings relief and newfound clarity. Glad and her sisters are well-defined characters whose very different points of view bring tension and balance to this engaging chapter book.” —Booklist

Lucky Little Things:

"With so many different subplots, a wide variety of readers will find this story relatable. The consistent reminders about the letter keep the story moving forward and create an irresistible page-turner. This story reminds readers that even the worst day of your life may lead to the luckiest little thing." —School Library Journal

"Erlbaum’s first book for young readers is freshly voiced, modern, and accessible . . . Books that speak directly to the experiences of upper middle-schoolers are rare these days, often falling into the gap between middle grade and YA. A refreshingly honest look at the true meaning of luck." —Booklist

From the Publisher

2019-04-28
An inventive seventh grade fixer discovers the downside of solving others' problems.

Since their mother left their family, over a year ago, narrator Gladys, 12, and her sisters—popular Mabel, 16, and brainy Agnes, 9—have longed for her return. Their hardworking lawyer dad can't replace what's missing. Glad discovered her problem-solving skills three years earlier, when their mom needed an excuse for forgetting Agnes at school. Now, Glad regularly finds excuses for Mabel and provides desperate classmates with cover stories. She helps one sustain belief in a fictitious Canadian boyfriend; makes up excuses for another to miss band practice; and assists a third in shedding the girly school apparel her grandma insists on for the T-shirts and jeans she prefers. Trustworthy, dependable Glad never extracts payment for her efforts. A few friends would be nice, yet popularity eludes her. Her only lunch-table companion remains grade-skipping "Harry Homework," 10, who assists classmates with homework (André, the Anti-Bullying Aardvark notwithstanding) to avoid harassment. As Glad is asked to invent more-complicated fixes, school administrators are becoming suspicious. Planning for Mom's promised visit presents another challenge: keeping Dad from dating until then. Ably assisted by a diverse cast of characters, Glad (who, like her family, is white) discovers that learning how to solve one's own problems is necessary to avoid making them again.

Smart, insightful, poignant—leavening brutal, middle school realities with wry humor. (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews