Loophole [TRADE PAPER ]

Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?

Maybelline Maybe Reed has stuck to a strict set of rules since Mama left five years ago: neatness matters, avoid boys at all costs, and absolutely no talking. She's convinced by being good she will coax Mama back into her life. When her therapist suggests she confront her anxiety and OCD, Maybe must do the unthinkable: enter sixth grade at a public middle school.

Maybe meets a sixth grade boy named Oliver and, after a rocky start, breaks one of her rules when they become friends. But then she discovers her safe haven and last remaining link to Mama, the Salem Public Library, is scheduled to close for good. Maybe pledges to save the library with Oliver's help, but is she brave enough to go through with their ambitious plan and possibly lose Mama forever? She can either obey her anxiety's repetitive demands or use her long-lost voice to finally make a difference.

"A beautiful, complicated depiction of emotional depth and resilience. Maybelline's emotions speak volumes, though she doesn’t speak at all. Weber handles each emotion, but especially anxiety, with authenticity and complexity, carefully describing the real physical and mental repercussions of deep feeling." —Catherine Arguelles, author ofFlip Turns

"This book is a bright light in the Middle Grade landscape and can even be used as a tool to help children cope with their own anxiety. Loophole is age appropriate, educationally manageable in vocabulary and word count, and will certainly make a great addition to a home or school library." —Stephanie Lupo Henson, author ofShare Faire FamousRebecca is a Midwestern girl with a lifelong passion for books! She spends most of her time nurturing her two Boston Terrier fur-babies and flipping houses with her realtor husband. It took fifteen years to find the courage to craft her debut novel,ls0