Finding Perfect

A girl deals with friendship, family, and OCD in this classic-feeling, debut middle-grade novel by Elly Swartz.

To twelve-year-old Molly Nathans, perfect is:

The number four
The tip of a newly sharpened No. 2 pencil
A crisp white pad of paper
Her neatly aligned glass animal figurines

What's not perfect is Molly's mother leaving the family to take a faraway job with the promise to return in one year. Molly knows that promises are sometimes broken, so she hatches a plan to bring her mother home: Win the Lakeville Middle School Poetry Slam Contest. The winner is honored at a fancy banquet with white tablecloths. Molly is sure her mother would never miss that. Right?

But as time passes, writing and reciting slam poetry become harder. Actually, everything becomes harder as new habits appear, and counting, cleaning, and organizing are not enough to keep Molly's world from spinning out of control. In this fresh-voiced debut novel, one girl learns there is no such thing as perfect.

About the Author

Elly Swartz grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania, where she lived a happy childhood filled with laughs, family dinners, and crooked birthday cakes. She studied psychology at Boston University and received a law degree from Georgetown University School of Law. Elly now lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two sons. Finding Perfect is her debut novel.