“Best known for her Tales from Alca­traz series, Chold­enko writes for a slight­ly younger set in this cel­e­bra­tion of fam­i­ly inge­nu­ity. It’s hard enough that fifth-grad­er Liam’s par­ents divorced and now he, his two younger sis­ters, and their sin­gle mom live in an apart­ment in need of repair. Their beloved dog, Cup­cake, won’t stop pee­ing on the rug, and the land­lord has giv­en them three weeks to get rid of the dog — or they’re all out. Episod­ic chap­ters bal­ance depic­tions of the harsh real­i­ties of divorce and finan­cial changes with amus­ing tri­al-and-error escapades as the sib­lings hatch mon­ey­mak­ing schemes to fund expen­sive vet tests. Along the way, the per­son­al­i­ty of each sib­ling shines through. Faced with more respon­si­bil­i­ty than oth­er kids his age, Liam just wants to play ten­nis as well as Roger Fed­er­er — or at least to keep up with Moses, a new stu­dent who seems to have it all. Third-grad­er and total nerd Dako­ta is bid­ing her time until she can cure can­cer. Sec­ond-grad­er and avid hug­ger Izzy has Down syn­drome, and her inclu­sion is not only seam­less, but inte­gral to the plot. Even when get­ting on each oth­er’s nerves, they ral­ly togeth­er when it mat­ters most. Expres­sive black-line art depicts their lov­able antics as well as mem­bers from their diverse com­mu­ni­ty. Liam and his fam­i­ly are white; his best friend, Dodge, has brown skin and is like­ly of Lat­inx her­itage, and Moses presents black, among oth­er sec­ondary char­ac­ters of col­or. Rem­i­nis­cent of Judy Blume’s work, this endear­ing sto­ry will make many chil­dren laugh and allow some to see a part of them­selves.” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)