Elusive Common Sense: Why is Common Sense So Hard to Find?: 1 (Growing Up Alex)

It's 1960, and twelve-year-old Alexandria "Alex" Kelley loves her parents and wants nothing more than to make them proud. With the sixth-grade spelling bee right around the corner, she sees her chance — but between school stress and her mom's favorite saying, "Don't you have any common sense?", Alex starts to wonder what common sense really means and if she's the only kid who never quite gets it right.

So she sets out to find an answer. Along the way, she learns to trust herself, be brave, be a good friend — and comes to understand her parents in a way she never had before.

Elusive Common Sense is a warm, funny, and relatable middle grade novel that captures exactly what it feels like to be 10-12 years old — navigating self-trust, courage, friendship, and family, and the everyday moments that help kids discover who they are. Perfect for tween and middle school readers who love honest, character-driven realistic fiction.

Book 1 of the Growing Up Alex series.

"Especially and unreservedly recommended for family, elementary school, middle school, and community library Social Issues themed fiction collections for young readers ages 7-14." — James A. Cox, Midwest Book Review