The Dirt Diary by Anna Staniszewski (review)

Money’s been a little tight in Rachel’s house since her dad took off a few months ago, and now that her mom has a new side job as a maid, Rachel is expected to help—especially if she wants to replenish the three hundred bucks she took out of her college fund. Now Rachel has access to the bedrooms of the wealthiest and most privileged kids in her eighth-grade class, giving her plenty of ammo against the queen bee whose main extracurricular activity is to torment Rachel. Of course, with great knowledge comes great responsibility, and Rachel is faced with the choice to behave ethically or to use the juicy tidbits she gathers along with socks and underwear to land herself the hot boy and embarrass her bully. Rachel’s voice is, for better or worse, entirely teen authentic in its self-centeredness, from her certainty that she is the most victimized kid in her whole school to her inability to see how her actions affect other people. She’s therefore often unlikable, but it’s in a surprisingly lovable way: her cluelessness is more from lack of life experience than malevolence, and she genuinely believes her planned trip to Florida to bring her father back will repair her family. The plot trajectory is familiar—Dad does not, in fact, return, and instead Rachel learns who she can and cannot depend on—but there is still heart and humor here, so readers looking for a heroine as flawed as themselves will commiserate with Rachel.