Winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction
An Association of Jewish Libraries Sydney Taylor Award Winner
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature

"Schlitz has crafted another exquisite literary gem, one told entirely via Joan's vivid, humorous, and emotionally resonant diary entries." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Fourteen-year-old Joan Skraggs, just like the heroines in her beloved novels, yearns for real life and true love. Over the summer of 1911, Joan pours her heart and her hope out into her diary -- because maybe, just maybe, a hired girl cleaning and cooking for six dollars a week can become what a farm girl could only dream of: a woman with a future. Newbery Medalist Laura Amy Schlitz brings her delicious wit and keen eye to early twentieth-century America in a moving yet comedic tour de force, available in paperback.