Cashing In by Susan Colebank

Colebank, Susan Cashing In, 314 p. Dutton (Penguin), 2009. $16.99. Language: PG (5 swears). Reggie (Regina) is a senior, just barely making it through school, working diligently every day at the local Cashmart, so that she can earn enough money to get out of town and get away from her money-hungry, gambling, infomercial-shopping mother. Her dad died a couple of years earlier and since then her mother has barely held things together, mostly by using lots of credit cards or bumming money from Reggie and her brother. Then Mom pops the good news – she’s won a huge jackpot – so the family starts spending money like water. Something will have to happen to reign in Mom and get Reggie to stand up for herself. Reggie’s life is like a train wreck – you know that something bad is going to happen and you just can’t look away. She has good friends and a possible love interest – you can only hope that Reggie will make the right decisions. HS – OPTIONAL. Cindy, Library-Teacher