Review Detail

Margot Stafford's father died before she was born, and her mother, Ruth-Ann, who has recently lost her job as a kindergarten teacher, has struggled with depression. Margot and her older brother Eli try to help as much as possible, but have their own interests. Margot's best friend, Suzanne, and her mother, Joan, try to help as well. School isn't Margot's favorite place, but she does enjoy art class with Mr. Grunwald, even if she isn't wild about some of the assignments, like mixing different shades of one color and naming them. When Ruth-Ann's current boyfriend, JP, moves in, the kids are wary. JP is a landscaper who has lost his daughter (a student of Ruth-Ann's) is a freak accident, and he is temperamental and often controlling. Hoping to show her mother that she doesn't need JP's help, Margot visits a new local art gallery to apply for a job. The owner, Alice, offers to let her work off the cost of a vase she has broken by cleaning the upstairs annex, and then to continue for minimum wage under the table. Margot is entranced by the gallery and her proximity to art, and when she finds six prints, takes them home and frames them herself, hoping to prove her worth to Alice. Suzanne is busy with her own activities, and Margot is trying to balance working at the gallery with watching out for her mother. She does meet Lex at a tutoring group that JP makes her attend in order to improve her math skills, and is enthralled with the carefree way Lex approaches life. When things with JP and the gallery reach a crisis point, Margot realizes that she needs help dealing with her mother, and is helped by Joan. Things end happily, with Ruth-Ann being offered a job running a town-sponsored art program at the gallery.