Jolly is seventeen. She can’t really spell. She doesn’t have much of a job. And she has two little kids from two different, absent fathers.

Jolly knows she can’t cope with Jilly and Jeremy all by herself. So she posts a notice on the school ­bulletin board: BABYSITTER NEEDED BAD. No one replies but Verna LaVaughn, who’s only fourteen. How much help can she be?

For a while, Jolly, Jilly, Jeremy, and LaVaughn are an extraordinary family. Then LaVaughn takes the first steps toward building her own future, and Jolly begins the long, slow process of turning the lemons of her life into lemonade.

“Powerfully moving.” –Kirkus Reviews, pointer

“Radiant with hope.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review