Just Do This One Thing for Me

EDGAR AWARD FINALIST • A timely novel about a rule-following daughter trying to hold her family together after her scammer of a mother disappears.

“A witty, off-beat, and strangely charming look at just how far an eldest child will go to keep their younger siblings together.”—School Library Journal

“A wild ride.”—Minnesota Public Radio

Just do this one thing for me.

One thing? The division of labor in Drew’s family goes like this: Mom manages a few shady side hustles, a thriving fake review business, and an obsession with Justin Timberlake; Drew is responsible for every other thing, including herself, her younger siblings, groceries, ukulele lessons, optometry, snow blowing, and solving all the problems the rest of the family creates. Drew is a planner, a rule follower, and mere months from leaving the chaos of her mother’s world behind for the list-making, box-checking structure of college, which is why she agrees when the Momnipulator leaves her in charge while she takes a last-minute trip to a concert in Mexico City. What’s one more “just one thing”?

But when Heidi fails to return, Drew finds herself in the middle of the biggest mess of all—and in a race to figure it all out before the thaw. She can either stick with her plans, do the responsible thing, and walk away alone. Or she can take over the cons, stay a step ahead of the law, and just maybe hold her family together.

Laura Zimmermann is a multiple-time champion of the Twin Cities Moth and Word Sprout story slams, and she was chosen to participate in the 2018 Listen To Your Mother storytelling show. Her debut novel, My Eyes Are Up Here, won the Minnesota Book Award. She lives with her family in Minneapolis, MN.