It's a Mystery, Pig Face! Wendy McLeod MacKnight

Tracy just got back from the worst vacation ever.  They went to the beach for a couple of weeks and her little brother was allergic to everything!  She got stuck trying to entertain him.  Thank goodness she's home now and can ditch him and hang out with Ralph, her best bud.  It doesn't quite turn out that way...

Sky Pony Press and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 7th.

Tracy and Ralph go sit on a bench by the track to discuss what they will do with the rest of the summer.  They're very glad to be back together.  Summer is more fun with a friend.  But this summer is different from the others.  Tracy goes to pick up Ralph's gum wrapper and finds a bag hidden under the bench.  When she looks in it, it has over $1500 in it!  Here's Tracy's first misstep:  She decides to hide the money, ask who lost it, and then give it back to them so she and Ralph can be heroes.  Bad choice...

Her brother has followed her so now she has to include him in future activities.  There's a new boy next door that she has a crush on and Ralph doesn't appreciate that.  Jasmine, a girl who likes to bully her anyway, is hanging out with the new boy and doesn't want her around either.  As she snoops around and asks questions, she finds out things she didn't want to know.

Before the end of the story, she's offended almost everyone in the story.  She's also saved her brother and written off the good looking boy next door.  And she finds that her neighbor next door that she never really liked isn't all that bad.

She almost lost everything this summer but she's grown up some.  She's also learned that all people are vulnerable in some way and that good friends are something you don't want to lose.  Best of all, I think she's not going to call her little brother, Lester, Pig Face anymore.