Like The Thing About Jellyfish and Counting by 7s, this sweet, heartfelt middle grade novel illustrates for readers what it’s like to tackle loss, confront hard truths, and find the courage to begin again.

Macy Hollinquest is eleven years old, and don’t count on her to change that anytime soon.

Her birthday is just days away, but she has no intention of turning twelve without her dad by her side. He’d promised to be there for her big day—and yet he’s been gone for months, away doing some kind of secret “important work” after being discharged from the Marines. So she’s staying eleven, no matter what—that is, until she meets Ginger, a nice older lady who is searching for her missing dog. Could Ginger be the perfect cover for attempting to locate her dad?

Macy’s search puts her on a path to a head-on collision with the truth, where she discovers that knowing can sometimes be a heavy burden. And that change, when finally accepted, comes with an unexpected kind of grace.

Mary Penney’s earnest, heartfelt story of change, loss, and new beginnings will resonate with readers on the cusp of new beginnings, and stay in their hearts long after it’s done.

Turning 12 is hard enough but when your dad has been away for 7 months on what Macey thinks is special military assignment and her mom isn't telling her anything, her nana dies and a new school year is about to start.... It's really tough! I love this story! A great story about heartache, family unity, friendship, and coming of age! 5 ( )

Macy is 11, and she refuses to turn 12 until her father returns from the secret military project he's working on. Her best friend Twee is a grade behind her and the won't be in the same school next year. Her grandmother's coffee shop was sold to a man she doesn't like, her mother seems hostile most of the time, an eccentric old woman has lost her dog and is offering a huge reward, and she keeps running into Switch, a skateboarding punk.
But much of what Macy sees in her world is not as it seems, and she will learn quite a bit about family, friends, and passing judgments on others based on minimal knowledge.
Delightful book, with some appealing secondary characters in addition to Macy. ( )

I get sad when I look at the shelves of young reader books at work and see lots of fantasy titles and very few contemporary (real-life) fiction books. This is one that came in this month and I'm so glad I picked it up yesterday! It's the story of a girl who isn't going to turn twelve until her father comes home and is there to celebrate with her. The characters are real and I was close to tears by the end. The one little warning I would give is that even though my store shelves it with the 9-12 age group, I would hold off giving it to children until they are 11 or 12. There are pretty mature themes. ( )

Macy is 11 and doesn't want to have her twelfth birthday without her father present. Unfortunately, he is "very busy" with "important work" and won't be able to make it to her birthday. She doesn't understand what could be so important or why what he is up to seems to be so secretive so she is determined to find out. Meanwhile, an older lady in town, Ginger, needs help finding her dog, and Macy agrees to help her friendTwee find the dog, even though there is very little summer left before the two best friends end up in different schools.
Sometimes when you go looking for answers, you don't always like what you find but being able to handle the truth is an important part of growing up. ( )