Smart Cookie

by Elly Swartz

Overview

From the author of Finding Perfect comes a funny, heartwarming story about the importance of family and the secrets we keep from those we love.

Sometimes you need to keep a few secrets.Frankie knows she'll be in big trouble if Dad discovers she secretly posted a dating profile for him online. But she's determined to find him a wife, even if she ends up grounded for life. Frankie wants what she had before Mom died. A family of three. Two is a pair of socks or the wheels on a bicycle or a busy weekend at the B&B where Frankie and Dad live. Three is a family. And Frankie's is missing a piece.But Operation Mom is harder to pull off than Frankie expects. None of the Possibles are very momish, the B&B's guests keep canceling, Frankie's getting the silent treatment from her once best friend, and there's a maybe-ghost hanging around. Worst of all, Gram and Dad are definitely hiding secrets of their own. If a smart cookie like Frankie wants to save the B&B and find her missing piece, she's going to have to figure out what secrets are worth keeping and when it's time to let go.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781338143584
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	01/30/2018
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	8 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Elly Swartz is the author of Finding Perfect. She loves hiking, Twizzlers, writing for kids, and anything with her family. Shortly after writing a few chapters of her first book, she found inspiration in the most unexpected place. She opened her Bazooka Joe bubble gum fortune and it read, "You have the ability to become outstanding in literature." That fortune remains tacked to the bulletin board next to her desk. Elly is a graduate of Boston University and the Georgetown University Law Center. She lives in the Boston area, is happily married, and has two grown sons and a beagle named Lucy. You can find out more about her at ellyswartz.com.

Read an Excerpt

Elliot's already waiting for me on the neon-green carpet, his shaggy hair flopped in front of his dark chocolate eyes. "When did you get down here?" I ask, handing him the cookies.He looks at his wristwatch/stopwatch/compass. "Approximately eight minutes ago. So what's the Code Red-Hot Chili Peppers emergency?""Sarah Rosen's dad is getting married."His expression remains unimpressed as he stuffs the entire cookie into his mouth at once."That really seems more like a Code Sweet Green Kiwi," he says."Well, it's not. Not even a Code Hot-and-Sour Pickle." I pull back my hair and hope all the rebel strands find their way into my ponytail holder.Elliot shakes his head."I'm serious," I say. "Sarah Rosen's dad getting married means I'm the last remaining student in the entire Dennisville Middle School without a family for the Winter Family Festival Parade.""Well, um, I hate to state the obvious, but you have a family. Your B&B is even called the Greene Family B&B."I say nothing.Elliot continues. "I think your dad and gram would be surprised to learn after all these years that they're not your family. What will they call the B&B?""You don't get it. Sarah and I were the only two who went from a family of three to a family of two. The only two who went from a mom and dad to no mom. The only two who made cards for our grandmothers and aunts on Mother's Day, the only two who learned how to put our hair into a non-lumpy ponytail by ourselves, the only two whose tights always ripped because we didn't know the nail-polish trick. Now, in just a few months, it'll just be me."

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Smart Cookie:"Smart Cookie has all the right ingredients: humor, mystery, friendship, ghosts, and an extra helping of heart." – Wendy Mass, New York Times bestselling author of 11 Birthdays and A Mango-Shaped Space

From the Publisher

2017-09-26
Eleven-year-old Frankie Greene's life is filled with complications. She lives with her dad and maternal grandmother in a quirky bed-and-breakfast acquired after her mother's death, where she cheerfully carries out her share of responsibilities, including baking the guests' welcome cookies. The white, nonobservant, Jewish family (indicated by references to Jewish traditions) keeps Mom in their lives in many ways, and Frankie converses with her via her journal entries. But there are secrets to be uncovered. Gram's hoarding is encroaching on public space, her backyard storage shed sets best friend Elliot's ghost-hunter meter soaring, and someone is spreading rumors of ghosts at the B&B around town, causing cancellations at the inn. Frankie must work on a school assignment with her former best friend, Jessica, who abruptly ended their friendship back in fourth grade. Frankie has also established an online profile in her father's name so she can select someone who might meet her strict criteria for a new mother. Frankie is honest and ever hopeful as she narrates her own fast-paced tale of confusions, worries, and headlong lapses of judgment. She is fully accepting of her charmingly eccentric family and friends. All the pieces come together in the end with many surprises. Ghost rumors are dispatched, friendships restored, and problems acknowledged and addressed. Their Vermont community seems to be a mostly white one.Readers will laugh and commiserate and root for Frankie all the way. (resources, acknowledgements) (Fiction. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews