The Dirt Diary - Series 
by Anna Staniszewski

The Dirt Diary - Series

Grades 4 & up

Realistic Fiction

My Very Un-Fairy Tale Life - series
Switched at First Kiss - series

Book Summary:
Rachel lives with her mom, who is working hard with her cleaning service. They don't have a lot of extra money, so Rachel sometimes goes with her mother to help clean houses. It's just a little awkward when she ends up cleaning the rooms of some of her school's most popular girls. With access to private information, will she give in to temptation or do the right thing?

The next two books in this series are The Prank List and The Gossip File.

The Prank List

When a competing cleaning service comes to town, Rachel decides to take matters into her own hands to save her Mom's business. Also, the cooking class she dreamed of taking is turning into a nightmare.

The Gossip File

Rachel's finally going to spend some quality time with her father in Florida - but it turns out his new girlfriend and her sulky son are going to be a major part of the visit, for better or worse.

 Book Review:
Although the main character is in eighth grade, many students in fourth or fifth grade can appreciate the social struggles she faces, and there isn't any content that would be too mature for ten-year-olds (references to crushes are as far as it goes). Rachel is dealing with shyness, her father's departure, and her new relationship with her mother. It isn't the world's deepest book, but it deals with ethics in an accessible way, and offers splashes of  fun.

The Truth Game

The fourth book featuring Rachel is The Truth Game. The moment this phone app is introduced, readers can see it is about as safe as a cavernous pit spewing toxic sludge, but no amount of screaming "no" into the pages will stop Rachel from playing it. She would be busy enough dealing with her new job at the bakery, her father moving back to town from Florida, becoming more confident as high school begins, and figuring out how to maintain her connection to her BFF Marisol - even though they're both spending more time with different activities.

"Instead of making fun of me or even acknowledging my existence, she decided to ignore me. Because in her book, I might as well be invisible."
p. 26

Baking
Single Moms and Daughters
Cleaning Service; Family Business
Popularity

Ethics; Honesty
Insecurity / Self-Confidence
Family Relationships
Identity
Class Issues

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