Awards

• Commended for Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2011

Overview

"""Someone has to keep their head,"" as Mum used to say, and 11-year-old Martha is used to being that someone in her family. Her little brother, Tug, is too small. Her dad has been acting too strange. And Mum's not here anymore. So when Dad falls off the roof, it's Martha who ices his knee and takes him to the doctor. And when Dad doesn't come home, it's Martha who cooks Tug's favorite pie and reads him his bedtime story. And when Dad passes out, it's Martha who cleans him up and keeps his secret. But eventually Dad's problems become too big for even Martha to solve, and she realizes it's not all up to her--there are people and places she can turn to."

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9780385752350

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Reviews

Starred Review, Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2011<br>British author Mason has conjured a rarity indeed--a tremendously charming, unflinching account of a parent's downward spiral. Eleven-year-old Martha Luna can't stand it anymore. Her widowed father's been acting strange in recent months--rather like a wild gibbon--and her 5-year-old brother Tug ( famous for eating and a trick he did with spit ) isn't helping. It's on the uber-responsible Martha's to-do list to Check Dad (more than once, if necessary) --but it takes a savvy outsider to help her see that her newly clownish, accident-prone father who rents pink limos and wakes her up for midnight picnics is not simply eccentric, but an alcoholic. Grandma ( scary in a well-spoken sort of way ) and Grandpa dutifully take care of the children while Dad's in rehab, but sanity comes in the delightfully improbable form of a flamboyant, cross-dressing 12-year-old filmmaker named Marcus who offers Martha practical advice and starring roles in

Author Information

SIMON MASON is the author of the Quigleys series for young readers: The Quigleys (Highly Commended in the UK's Branford Boase Award), The Quigleys at Large, The Quigleys Not for Sale, and The Quigleys in a Spin. He has also written three adult novels. Simon lives in Oxford with his wife and two children.

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