Meanwhile, she and her friend Barbara are busy getting into all kinds of trouble as teenagers tend to do. They both work at Mona's parent's pancake house and they befriend Alfred the cook. Alfred ends up homeless and while Barbara's parents are out of town for the summer, Barbara installs Alfred at the house.
Luckily enough for Barbara, there is an opening in the basement that leads out to the woods - they believe that this is part of the Underground Railroad. Alfred, to lessen suspicion amongst the neighbors, uses this entrance to gain entry into the house. He is supposed to stay hidden so that Barbara's cousin Evie doesn't find out about him since she is responsible for Barbara while Barbara's parents are out of town.
Everything blows up of course, and Barbara's parents do find out. Alfred is kicked out of the house. Barbara is forbidden to see Mona anymore. Mona's parents fire Alfred for causing problems at Barbara's parent's house and Alfred begins the process of suing Mona's parents for firing him for unjust causes.
I found this book a little hard to read at the beginning, it seemed the author jumped around a lot. But after the first few pages the story started to develop and I was able to follow it quite easily. I thought this book was interesting and fun to read because of the Jewish-centric plot. It reminded me of my teenage years when I used to hang out with a bunch of Jewish kids and went to Temple. Good fun!
Rating: 8 / 10
ISBN: 9780679445897
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Edition: 1st Edition