Description

In this classic coming-of-age story, Chela faces the challenges of sixth grade after losing her father, her very best friend.

Chela Gonzalez is a nerd and a soccer player who can barely contain her excitement about beginning the sixth grade. But nothing is as she imagined. Her best friend turns on her to join the popular girls, and they all act like she doesn't exist. Chela buries herself in schoolwork and the warm comfort of her family. To Chela, her family is a solar system with her father the sun and her mother, brothers, and sister like planets lovingly rotating around him. It's the only universe in which she fits in.

But this universe is threatened when her father is rushed to the hospital. Chela's grandmother moves in to help the family, and the smell of her old lady perfume invades the house. The smell is like Sundays, sad, but sure to pass. Death, however, is a whole other thing, and Chela doesn't realize it's what the rest of the family is waiting for.

Accompanied by the smell of old lady perfume, Chela must push past her sadness and worry, and finally discover her true strength.