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A fast-paced, completely delightful new mystery about what happens when parents get a little too involved in their kids' schools, from NAACP Image Award nominee Elise Bryant.
Mavis Miller is not a PTA mom. She has enough on her plate with her feisty seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, an exhausting job at a nonprofit, and the complexities of a multigenerational household. So no one is more surprised than Mavis when she caves to Trisha Holbrook, the long-reigning, slightly terrifying PTA president, and finds herself in charge of the school’s brand-new DEI committee.
As one of the few Black parents at this California elementary school, Mavis tries to convince herself this is an opportunity for real change. But things go off the rails at the very first meeting, when the new principal's plans leave Trisha absolutely furious. Later that night, when Mavis spies Trisha in yellow rubber gloves and booties, lugging cleaning supplies and giant black trash bags to her waiting minivan, it’s only natural that her mind jumps to somewhere it surely wouldn’t in the light of day.
Except Principal Smith fails to show up for work the next morning, and has been MIA since the meeting. Determined to get to the bottom of things, Mavis, along with the school psychologist with the great forearms (look, it’s worth noting), launches an investigation that will challenge her views on parenting, friendship, and elementary school politics.
Brilliantly written, It's Elementary is a quick-witted, escapist romp that perfectly captures just how far parents will go to give their kids the very best, all wrapped in a mystery that will leave you guessing to the very end.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Shady dealings at a California elementary school propel this frothy adult debut from YA author Bryant (Reggie and Delilah's Year of Falling). Overextended mom Mavis Miller has been roped into heading the new DEI committee at Knoll Elementary. Cornered into accepting the position by relentlessly peppy PTA president Trisha Holbrook, Mavis—one of the school's few Black parents—has resolved to set aside any resentments and make an impact however she can. At Mavis's first PTA meeting after accepting the position, Knoll's new principal, Thomas Smith, announces that the school will be cutting ties with a district-wide gifted program, causing Trisha to lash out. Later in the evening, Mavis spots Trisha fumbling with heavy trash bags, rubber gloves, and a bottle of bleach as she leaves the school. The next morning, Principal Smith is nowhere to be found. Mavis immediately suspects Trisha of foul play, and joins forces with Knoll's hunky school psychologist, Jack Cohen, to get to the bottom of the principal's disappearance; in the process, they uncover class tensions seething beneath the school's shiny facade. Bryant throws a few too many suspects into the mix, but Mavis is so endearing, and her chemistry with Jack so strong, that readers won't mind. This deserves a sequel.
